Tracing Footprints
by NyaaRin
Summary: Amnesia, I know it's clichè but what if Kagura lost all her memories about her friends from Edo? 2 years of emptiness and vague memories, held as a captive of the Harusame pirates, while things were about to go down, who could bring her smile back when she's already being swallowed up by darkness?
1. Kagura's Predicament

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

Yush! Hello minna! I'm quite unskilled but still, NyaaRin's here to bring you my very first fanfic among dozen of (hopefully) more fanfics I'll write here. :* Presenting my gintama otp, Okita Sougo and Kagura! Hope you'll enjoy it minna!

×Kagura's Predicament×

●Kagura●

_Two years have been long lost gone,_

_Two long years of bearing and striving,_

_Two consecutive years of emptiness and self-discovering,_

_Two years filled with vague memories of my past..._

"How surprising! I thought I'll be seeing your corpse right now because of last night's beating you've got from that Kamui Kaichou, I'm a bit amused of your body's resistance but still... You're a useless piece of trash that is unbelievably part of that strong clan like that of your brother's, sometimes I'm confused if you're really siblings not to mention that Kamui himself is so strong while you... You're just a Pathetic pesky brat!"

***Pak!***

And there it was again, another humiliation and a slap coming from this lady with a blond hair; With her eyes filled with grudge as she aims her gun at my head,

"Someday, I'll make sure that my bullets will send you to your own hell grave bitch!"

***Pak!* *Pak!* *Pak!***

She let out a demonic laugh as she close the door of my steel-made chamber, leaving me bleeding in the corner due to her continuous hitting,

_Why are they treating me like this?_

_What did I ever do to them to deserve this kind of harsh treatment?_

_If only these vague memories of mine became vivid..._

I mumbled, trying to reach my bleeding head, I forced my trembling body to move and leans it against the cold cemented wall at my right, I fixated my eyes on my legs that's been chained; I touched those heavy cold metal series of connected rings that surrounding my swollen ankles, A tear rolled down my left eye down to my cheek, How pathetic of me...

A useless girl shedding another of her weakness inside her enemies' lair... it's so absurd... Pitiful... Unbearable...

That made me chuckle in between my sobs,

What a loser...

I thought...

=#=

*Normal Person's P.O.V*

"How unusual for you to hold back Captain..."

Abuto smirked as he taunted his superior; Kamui, on the other hand, just showed him that usual goofy smile of his,

"What do you mean by that Abuto?" he sneered,

"Well, it's just... How do you call this... Unlikely? yeah... It's unlikely for a blood thirsty guy like you to hold back his bare fangs to a mere "weakling" like your sister, Cap'n."

Kamui stood there unshaken, and just plastered another smile on his subordinate,

"Didn't I told you before, that I have no interest of killing women, for they can give birth to a child that may entertain me in the future Abuto?"

He answered, Abuto crossed his arms and sighed,

"So in other words... You honor her strength Cap'n?"

he continued, Veins may soon popped out from Kamui's face if this conversation goes on, but still, ignoring the possible danger, Abuto stood there calm and continued,

"How very unusual..."

Kamui just gave him a faint laugh,

"She's a Yato for crying out loud, Even though she's weak, who knows if someday she could give birth to a child as insanely strong as of a usual Yato can be..."

Abuto chuckled,

"...Well, Well, Well, looks like the heartless Onii-Chan here still cares for his "imouto"... That's a surprise!" He laughed,

Kamui's hard grip made his hand bleed,

_If only I don't need a thing or two from you, I've probably killed you, You conceited bastard!_

He silently thought as his smile hid it all, Abuto pointed Kagura's cell,

"I don't really care about your family issues Captain..."

Abuto focused his eyes to Kamui,seemingly making an intense eye contact to his superior,

"...But I think, The monster you've been looking for ages just needs a little push to be released, and ironically, _she _was just sleeping 6 meters away from you right now..."

Kamui stared at his subordinate and laughed,

"What a joke Abuto!"

He beamed, making Abuto sigh,

"Laugh all you want Captain... But the time will come, You will just cough bloods from your mouth as you'll recall these things I'm saying right now; I'm telling you, her eyes could as be cold and deadly as yours, she can be as blood-thirsty as you... That sister you have there will go against all odds and kick your sorry ass Captain..."

Kamui's eyes became as deadly as a dagger from being curve just a moment ago, as he throws sharp glares to Abuto,

"How many times should I tell you, that I've torn the connections I have with her a long time ago, Abuto? And that just makes her as another trashy woman in my eyes?"

He subconsciously hid his frustration with a smile,

"... A self-proclaimed earthling who conceals her true strength can't match me Abuto, To be able to beat me down, one must atleast be as strong and brave as of going berserk and go all out to finish me off, And that, in my thoughts, for _her_, is impossible!"

He smirked as he left Abuto standing there watching his figure vanish through the mist of darkness,

"...Now I'm really confused... I don't know if he's a silly yandere, or a fucking retard tsundere!?"

He growled as he rub his hair.

To be continued...


	2. Misleading two years

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

Yush! Hello once again minna! For those who followed this story, THANK YOU! Now, now, I guess it's the time where I should bring you to the place where I've left you before… enjoy minna!

Note: **GUYS! I DO NOT OWN GINTAMA AT ALL, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR SIR HIDEAKI SORACHI!**

-#-

**Chapter 2**

**X Misleading two years X**

*Normal P.O.V*

Two years have passed through Edo like a rough breeze; the wind that used to be filled with smiles and laughs became as boring and dull like that of a gray canvas draped in a white colored wall, the streets that used to be so lively became as quiet as a feather falling silently from the sky to the ground, The screams, The cursing, The peculiar noises can be no longer heard loitering around.

Through this obscure scene, its funny how _these _certain people could still remain stoic and smile even if they're already drowning in apathetic waves of feels; But through that painful two years they've gone through, the only hindrance for keeping them from shedding tears is the will of keep going on, For they know that even _her _would do the same stupid thing like this when facing this kind of situation.

*Slurp*

"Ahhh… Another sip of bitter strawberry milk."

Gintoki eyed the box of his strawberry flavored milk drink and took a deep breath, releasing a shaky air out of his mouth, He threw his head back and looked at the sky, and he watched the clouds as they chase each other.

"_**Gin-chan!"**_

He was startled for a while as he remembered a voice that made his heart broke into pieces. He took another sip from his milk drink and put his right hand on his eyes,

"Ahhh… Another sip of bitter strawberry milk."

And a tear rolled down from his eyes,

"Sh*t that brat didn't even bother to tell us that she's going to die… didn't even… bother… to… say 'goodbye'…"

"Oi Perm-head-idiot; would you mind me slicing that damn tongue of yours?! You're babbling stupid shits and you're pissing me off!"

An annoying familiar voice interrupted Gin's thoughts,

"Stupid f*cking Mayora! Would you mind your own business!?"

Gin exclaimed looking at the guy in front of him,

"You look pathetic! Creating a scene in a public place; showing everyone how weak you are tss!"

Hijikata puffed a smoke out of his mouth,

"At least I'm crying over something that really matters unlike you who sheds useless tears to a movie that wasn't even worth crying for! Just who the f*ck would cry over an action movie like the "Yakuza vs. Alien" one!? Dumb psycho Mayo-Freak!"

He reprimanded making Hijikata's eyebrows meet each other,

"Don't you dare judge the heroic deed of the mighty Joe-nii!? Sh*tty diabetic perm-head!"

And he equally returned Gin's glare,

"Wanna go you retard!?"

Gin intimidated,

Just when they're about to brawl a familiar figure caught their very eyes, It was Sougo, walking absentmindedly as he passed through them without even saying "hi" to his "Danna" nor even drawing his cannon out of nowhere to kill his Superior; Their eyes follow him until he vanished from a slope, completely ignoring them,

Hijikata and Gin remained silent for a while and decided to quit that stupid fight and sat beside each other on a bench just behind them, Hijikata lit another cigarette while Gin continues to feast over his Strawberry milk drink,

"What happened to Souichirou, Mayora?"

Gin asked picturing the image of Sougo as he passed through them a while ago, Hijikata didn't look at him but still answers,

"Even if you ask me, I'm not really sure why he's been acting like that, all I know he began to lose his concentration a week after that China girl passed away…" He confessed,

Gin stared to the horizon Okita had disappeared to,

"Presumably, Young love… I guess?" he said out of the blue,

Hijikata exhaled,

"Who knows? But I think the most applicable reason is that, Sougo must be feeling '_**empty' **_right now..."

He muttered, making Gin raised an eyebrow,

"Empty huh? Does his soul fly out of his body or something?"

As soon as Gin finished his sentence Hijikata landed a blow on his head,

"Oi! Teme! Why did you do that!?"

Gin shouted as he pressed his little bump,

"Just how dumb can you possibly get!? I know that your brain is as tiny as a soy bean, but man! Your stupidity is something! You stupid diabetic bastard, that's what you get from eating a lot of sweets!"

Gin shoved him making an opening for him to land a punch on Hijikata's stomach,

"You freak! Compared to that greasy salty-sour sh*t of yours, Sweets such as strawberry milk is far more nutritious!"

Gin didn't finish his sentence when Hijikata grab his leg and throw him on the mid-air,

"Don't you dare talk rubbish like that to "my" mayonnaise, you illiterate dumbass!"

Hijikata felt pain prickled on his back when Gin landed a kick on his rear,

"You're a million more illiterate than I am! Crazy bastard!"

Gin showed a triumphant grin, making Hijikata smirk in unison, they positioned themselves and was about to draw their swords (well wooden sword for Gintoki) when they saw another group of familiar faces walking down the road,

It was Otose-san, Shinpachi, Otae, Madao, Sadaharu, Tama, Kyuubei and other close friend of Kagura,

Gin and Hijikata were pinned in the same position as they first saw Okita walk down the slope, With them sighing once again, they swore that they'll just drop this stupid useless fight nor even start a new one, at least… _for now_

"Well, that's it I guess, let's just rest it for today, I'm done with this nonsense crap anyway…"

Hijikata sneered as he refrains from drawing his sword,

"That's my line you sh*tty throbby-vein-boy!"

"The heck did you call me!?"

And a tension begins to start _again _on their background, before it ended up to a "fight" they've immediately avert their eyes from one another and controlled their rages,

"Tch!"

They hissed,

"Let's quit now okay? **For real!**"

Gin breathes out and picks his nose,

"I just want some answers…" He added,

"Answers? Really? Tch! You just want to stick your nose unto something so in that way you could forget about Kagura for a while…"

Hijikata commented, releasing a cloud of smoke out of his mouth, Gin slid out a lollipop out of his yukata and crossed his arms,

"True enough, half of my intention was that, but by means of 'empty' it _almost _sounded like Kagura is someone important for that Souichirou-kun."

He blurted out, Hijikata paused for a while and rested his back on the wooden rear of the bench they're sitting,

"Ahh, Can't help then, By the way it is **Sougo **not **Souichirou, **Stupid…" He corrected,

"Yeah, Yeah… Whatever." Gin continues to pick his nose,

"The thing I meant form the word 'empty' is not as deep as what you're implying like he's in love or anything beyond that, I guess? But if somehow that is true, I could tell that he has not confirmed any romantic feelings for _her _yet. I mean, He may have the skills to pick up and learn things quickly but those kinds of feelings are just too crucial for him to understand, especially considering his one track sided set of mind…"

Gin remained silent as Hijikata continues,

"I'm pointing out here that because of the sudden death of his _**rival **_he must be feeling like there's something missing, I mean, doesn't it feel wrong if one day you'll learned that the gal you've used to brawl with every now and then was found there lying in a corner, blood dripping from her head, heart and stomach with no sign of breathing at all? With nothing to pull out as a clue why the hell she died? Argh! Do you get what I mean?"

Hijikata scratched his head, looking for the right words to explain his point, the silver haired guy just stare at the horizon,

"I know exactly what you mean…"

Hijikata stops as he made a face,

"Huh?"

Now it's his turn to ask, Gin cracked the lollipop in his mouth,

"You wouldn't know the value of something or even someone until it vanishes away from your grasp." He muttered,

"The very first time I saw Souichirou-kun like that was when his sister died, but compared to that I think I agree with you when you said that he must be feeling 'empty' right now, that guys sees Kagura as a very strong person, so if somehow we'll on conclusions, the 'emptiness' he's dealing must be the results of shock and disappointment…" Gin added,

"Disappointment?" Hijikata asked, Gin nods,

"Rivals intend to vow to defeat each other by their own hands right? So he must be feeling disappointed for the thought that he is not the one who finished Kagura, I think..?"

Now Gin began asking himself, as the words don't settle to the direction he's trying to go to,

"With some points, I admit I agree with you either, but I was quite unsure when it comes to the 'disappointed' part, I mean, for some few years I've been with him, Sougo is not the type of guy who'll carry such useless vow for someone, yet, maybe half of that is true, the thing that lingers through my mind is the thought that maybe, instead of feeling disappointed because he's not the one who defeated his sworn enemy, Sougo must be feeling guilty because even when up to the very end that he witnesses _her _fall, he didn't do anything to save her? I mean, we, the shinsengumi, just doesn't concentrate on the subject, we must also be there to protect the civilians-!"

Hijikata was cut off when Gin gave him a jab,

"OI NANDA TEME!"

He held Gin's collar, veins popping out of his head,

"_She's _no civilian for him, Dumbass…"

Gin said, as Hijikata showed him a "What-do-you-mean" look on his face,

"You're his superior; you must know him better…" Gin mumbled,

"Are you mocking me or something?" Hijikata sneered,

"If that's how you see it, But come on, that guy, even when he didn't admit it, he and Kagura have that kind of "Love and Hate" relationship between them, beneath their usual bickering, deep inside they see each other on a different angle than just 'rivals' and they are aware that they hold each other dearly…" Gin said,

Hijikata released him as those words traveled through his mind.

"How could you say so?"

"Through your words idiot! The problem about you, shinsengumi, is that you're so dedicated to your work, so these kind of things are becoming transparent and complicated to understand not just by your minds but also your hearts, If you'll ask me, If there is someone who is somewhat still normal to all of you, that would be that Gorilla Captain of yours, for even you'll ask him about this matter we're talking about right now, I swear he'll say these exact same words to you: _'I think Sougo now understands __**something **__he never thought he could'_.."

Gin cracked a faint laugh and made his way through the road everyone is taking,

"Ne Mayora! I'm going! I have to buy sokunbo for Kagura, I don't want to be caught by another kanashibari, most especially done by her ghost or whatsoever, see ya later!"

And he vanishes before Hijikata could say a thing,

"Tch! Did that perm poop just lectured me?!" He hissed,

"Sougou understands something he never thought he could..?"

Those words made him paused for a while and scratch the back of his neck,

"What could be that sadistic bastard could possibly understand?!"

He thought, gritting his teeth as he remembered every killing intent Sougo have done to him, He closed his eyes and sighed, he recall Okita's face as they saw him an hour ago, his stoic expression mirrored his face as he loses his beloved, Mitsuba,

"…"

He took a minute of silence after those words came to his mind, he opened his eyes, clasped his hands together and put it below his chin, a playful smirk was formed on his lips as he finally connected all the dots and found a surprising conclusion about his subordinate,

"Who could have thought that, that sadistic bastard's heart could still honor those kinds of feelings…"

And he stood up on his feet and draw out another audible breath,

"I must go too and pay that China girl a visit, I don't want to suffer from any paranormal activities or anything related with ghosts…" He thought as he sets off.

-#-

*At the cemetery*

As everyone was still on their way, Okita stood in front of _her _gravestone looking like a total idiot as he continue to stare at her imprinted name for almost an hour now, he remembered when he first met her, how their rivalry starts and up until the last time he saw _her _annoyed face, making his lips form a bitter smile,

"You're unfair China…"

He muttered as he continued to stare at her gravestone,

"We didn't even settle a score yet, so why do you let this happen to you?" He mumbled,

"This may sound absurd but even if the chance is very low, I know from the back of my mind that you're still alive and kicking somewhere over this big universe, I just can't accept that you've passed away just like _that_, Tell me that it's just a dream, that you're just joking right now like you did when you've got a Summer fever then…" He smiled,

"Because I know that if I am at your state right now where I am the one who died instead of you, I know that you'll come here by yourself saying these stupid things to me, so please… China…"

Okita was interrupted when he heard footsteps slowly getting closer to where he is, He immediately climb up a tree as the silhouettes of Otose-san and the others are becoming vivid,

_Why the heck am I hiding!?_

He thought as he let out a sigh of astonishment,

"Eh? Gin-San isn't here..?"

Shinpachi wondered as his eyes traveled around the place,

"How unusual…"

Otose-san and the others placed their offering on Kagura's gravestone, with sad smiles on their faces,

"Ne, Kagura-chan, it's almost two years, How've you been doing there? Are you eating well? I hope you're okay…"

Otose said as she lit a couple of candles,

Okita remained silent as he carefully watched them offer a prayer for Kagura,

"She might have possibly ate all the food and even the stock pile in hell…"

He murmured, creating an image of Kagura with a big belly ready to swallow a bucket full of souls,

"I wish she didn't eat those poor souls yet…"

He continue to mumble and counter every praises Otae-san and the others will say to Kagura, Until a couple of familiar silhouettes began to appear on the horizon of both east and west, It was Gin and Hijikata,

"Eh? Hijikata-kun?"

Kondo was surprised to see his comrade coming closer to them,

"What brings you here?"

He asked, Hijikata lit another stick of cigarette,

"To pay a visit to friend..?"

He answered placing a bottle of mayonnaise on Kagura's gravestone,

"Teme! What do you think you're offering!?"

Gintoki slaps his head with a paper fan (the hell would I know where he get that) as Hijikata offered a prayer,

"Bastard! Are you blind?! The greatest condiment in the world, obviously grr!" He replied, sarcastically,

All of them showed a straight face and beat the hell out of Hijikata for good,

"You damn retards! Get off me!" He cried,

The argument was cut off when Professor Gengaii entered the scene,

"Eh? Jiji?! How very unusual for you to come out of you junkyard! What brings you here?" Gin asked,

The old man took a deep sigh and looks at them one by one until he finally breaks the silence and spoke,

"First and foremost I wanted to say 'I'm sorry' to all of you…"

He initiated, making Gin gulped as he felt the atmosphere becoming heavy,

"W-What do you mean, gramps?" He asked,

"I was comatose for over a year and a half that's why I didn't have the chance to tell you…"

Gin eyed him from toe to head, agreeing on the fact that he, indeed, loss a great amount of weight,

"Tell us what?" he asked, keeping the conversation on roll,

Okita feels the seriousness of the words coming out of Professor Gengai's mouth, making him turn his full attention and ears towards the old man,

Professor Gengai took a moment of tranquility to gain up another set of confidence and direct his thoughts as he let a couple of droplets flow from his forehead, making Gin and the others feel the tension of the background increased,

"Kagura chan is…"

He started, Gin could feel the immense pull of gravity as his breathing became heavy, but fighting through it, he managed to speak out,

"W-What's with K-Kagura?" He stuttered,

Professor Gengai looked straight to his eyes,

"**She's still alive…"**

**To be continued….**


	3. Truth

**A/N: Yush! hello minna! first and foremost, Thank you! Thank you for those who've followed this story, those who favorite-d it, and most especially your reviews that had me really awed, butterflies suddenly filled my stomach as I didn't expect those kind of comments coming from you, hehe, I thought at first my story was crappy and all as I just wrote here for the first time and I don't even know what I'm doing hehe, Thanks guys! now presenting, chapter 3! **

**Disclaimer: Gintama was entirely not mine, all rights reserved for sir Hideaki Sorachi! and the first cover was not mine, but the current one was created by yours truly, so I'm sorry if it's crappy *insert peace sign here* **

**Tracing Footprints**

**~okikagu fanfiction~ **

●Truth●

×Normal P.O.V×

**"She's still alive."**

The very thought of it became dismissive from the minds of Gin and the others, No one dares to utter a single word out of their mouths nor even react, For the truth they've seen with their naked eyes was completely distinct from the one they've just heard,

After a brief moment of silence Gintoki managed to regain his consciousness when his thoughts were all cleared up, Despite feeling uneasy and puzzled he eventually bring himself to speak out,

"April fools is long gone over Jiji, now run along." He may appear nonchalant but through looking in his eyes you could see the great amount of frustration brewing up,

Professor Gengai sighed as he examined all their reactions, agreeing on the fact that it is indeed hard to believe something that contradicts the truth you've believed in,

"I k-know it's hard to accept something like this so suddenly but if I keep on lying to you, it'll be hard for me to stomach any of your tears, grieves and mourns anymore! T-That's why, even if it's unbearable, Please liste-!"

Professor Gengai was cut off when Gin suddenly pointed his bokuto at him,

"Cut it off!" he hissed,making the others gulped as they saw the anger mirrored on his eyes, "This place is not suitable for that stupid joke of yours Jiji!" he added,

The professor could feel his body shiver because of Gin's words, he tried to fight his fear and set it aside for a while as he grabbed the sword and equally return Gin's glare,

"If you don't want to listen then just cover your ears, I must tell this to you before it's too late..." He said,

"One more word and I'm going to sl-!" Gin's murderous attack was stopped when Shinpachi caught his arms,

"G-Gin-san! Calm down!" he plead,

"Calm down!? He's obviously toying with our feelings! Hanase you fuck*n megane!" Gin shouted as he tried to free himself from Shinpachi's grip,

He kept on struggling and yelling until Otose-san gave him a blow on the head,

"You're being unreasonable Gintoki!" she reprimanded, "May it be true or not,the way he says: "before it's too late..." was something too fraudulent to ignore! Listening to him will be our gain not our loss Gintoki..."

The others agreed on Otose-san's statement, finally attained their full attention, Professor Gengai starts to perform his work,

"It's hard to summarize it all in words so instead of telling this to you, I want you to watch it instead... Tama could you please come here?"

He initiated pulling out a USB like (Or anything related to that in their era) device out of his pocket, Gin and the others watched him set all the needed parts on their places and when he's finally done, he coughed and looked back at them once again,

"...Wait a minute Professor!" Madao raised his hand on the midair,

"What?" replied Professor Gengai,

"A video? Just when did you recorded all those scenes in there?" he asked and pointed out the gadget,

"Ah, This? It was from the cameras I've set on my laboratory last last year, those cameras recorded it all." he answered,

"Wait, why do you have thos-!" Shinpachi didn't finished his question when Professor protested,

"Would you all stop asking and just set your eyes in this!? Good grief!" He yelled, startling everyone,

"*sigh* Some of your questions would be answered by this so just stay there and watch..."

"Eh? What's happening?" A voice called out making all of them turn their gazes on the direction it came from, only to find a puzzled Soyo hime staring back at them with a box of sokunbo on her hands,

"Hime-sama!" Kondo quickly helped the young girl and made her sit down on the middle of the circle,

"We're going to find out the truth..." Otae smiled,

"Truth? About what?" The princess asked,

"About Kagura's "death" Hime-sama...";Shinpachi answered and pointed out the screen on a tree created by Tama's projector.

"I wanna know too!" Soyo-Hime squealed,

"Then sit still and be quiet! I'm going to start this so shut up! All of you!" Professor Gengai shouted while in return, his audiences nodded in response,

"Good..." and with that, Professor Gengai starts the (short) film.

*Warning! Spoiler alert!* *It will be a flashback prior from two years, a week before the shige shige arc starts, ( for those who didn't know about this yet and don't want to be spoiled please don't continue anymore) I'll be summarizing the circumstances happened to Professor Gengai and the rest of the Kiheitai and Harusame fraction before Kagura and the others go on a war to protect the shogun, (but mind you it is still a fanfic) so from this point onward It will serve as the same thing the characters are watching up there XD...*

It was a fine day for Professor Gengai as he continues to tinker and make a new invention (especially robots) like usual, he was at the middle of repairing when a sudden explosion interrupted him from doing it so, he was about to turn when he felt a cold metal touched

his neck and shoulder, he saw a sword on his peripheral vision and gulped as he confirmed it,

"We've meet again greatest inventor of Edo..."

A sweat dropped from his chin when he saw the owner if that voice,

"You... The guy from the riverbank..." (*see episode 32*) Professor Gengai recalled,

Takasugi smirked, awed to be recognized, he walked towards him and pulled out a photo from his yukata, and showed it to Gengai-san,

"You know this girl right?" he asked,

Professor Gengai's eyes were widened as he saw the photo, vermillion locks, aquamarine eyes that are as clear as the sky and a complexion as fair as porcelain,

**_The girl from that trio!_**

Professor Gengai recalled,

He dared to shook his head and say 'no' when a bullet came across his eye,

"Utter a single lie and I'll make sure you'll die!" Matako taunted and pointed her gun at him, "People who'll defy Takasugi-sama mustn't supposed to live furtherm-!"

"Stop it Matako." Takasugi commanded, making his subordinate behave like an obedient dog and lowered her gun as a respond to his command "If you'll kill him right now, the plan wouldn't take place..."

"I'm sorry T-Takasugi-sama..."

"Now then old gramps, where are we..?" he crossed his arms and puff off a cloud of smoke out his mouth and looked straight at Professor's eyes "Ahhh... the thing I want you to do is simple, I want you to make this plan successful, All you have to do is..."

**_"...to create a clone of this girl."_**

It was silent for a moment as professor let his mind process it all,

"W-wait! W-Why would I do that!? w-why her!?" he stuttered,

Takasugi smirked, "The very answer would be; we'll use that girl to bring Gintoki down."

"What will a clone do? I mean s-she's a yato! How could you possibly-" Professor Gengai was interrupted when a group of Yato appeared before him led by the 7th Division Captain, Kamui, "Mah...Mah... what's wrong with a little family reunion?" Kamui smiled, making Gengai-san gulped,

"T-This is not right! I d-don't want to do it!" despite his fear Gengai-san managed to spit these words out of his mouth,

"The nerve-!" Matako positioned herself when Takasugi glared at her,

"Try to make another impulsive attack and you're gonna regret it Matako."

"My deepest apologies Takasugi-sama, but he's just too hard-headed!" And she pointed out the old man,

"Hard-headed ot not, he's the only one who could do it, so even if it's annoying, hold your fangs a little bit longer..." Takasugi answered

Kamui and the rest remained at the corner silently watching the interrogation,

"Now Gramps, I'll repeat-!"

"NO!" "Oh please, If you wanna live-!"

"NO!NO!NO!"

*Pak!*

"Heh, looks like the calm Takasugi reached his limit..." Kamui grinned,

"The thing I hate the most are people who sticks at their dignity even if it's futile!" Takasugi grabbed the collar of Professor Gengai and shoved him,

"I'm done with pleasing you! If you don't want this to settle in an essy conversation, I think we'll have to take what we want by force!" Takasugi unsheathed his sword and shouted, "Destroy everything you'll see in here! Destroy everything until this sh*tty old man say "yes"!"

His troops did what he ordered leaving the place messier than before, Takasugi saw a little robot lying on top of the shelf just beside him, he took it and toss it on the midair,

"No! Please not that! I'm begging you!" Professor Gengai shouted as he saw what he did,

Takasugi smirked and caught the little robot before it landed on the ground,

"How absurd... I've let out a flowery statements and all I just need to make you do what I want is this junk!? Pathetic!"

"Destroy everything, I wouldn't care less, but please, anything but that..." Professor Gengai pleads,

"That's Saburo's first handmade robot..."

Takasugi stood there for a minute then replied,

" Saburo you say? That kind of feelings will ruin you Jiji..." he let out a faint laugh

"That kind of adherence is useless on this corrupt world, things like those wouldn't take you anywhere, and before you knew it, you've been swallowed entirely by darkness,..." "Love, Hope, Faith, Indulge yourself with those while you can, but still once you've embrace the sadness and the dark truth, you'll just find yourself turned into a beast you've never thought you'll be..."

Professor Gengai's eyes were fixated on him, never did he thought that he could see sorrow from his eye,

**_He's just a person anyway... _**He thought.

"If you don't want this to be broken into pieces, do what I told you to do!"

Takasugi turned his back and was about to leave when Gengai-san spoke,

"How could I perform something like cloning when I don't have any hair or blood from-!" His smirk faded away when Bansai showed a vial with a blood inside it,

"We'll never propose anything unprepared..." Takasugi crossed his arms,

"If by any chance you're wondering where we've got this the answer would be the day when we fought against her as she strives to save Zura..."

**_"Damn it!"_** Professor hissed,

"Now then... DO IT!"

"How could I trust you with your words?" He muttered with his head down, "Knowing villains like you, promises are useless.."

"... I hate promises, but there is someone who taught me that if something has an equal trade, I must keep it whatever happens, a bargain is a bargain. So rest assured, I'll try to keep it, but once you've tricked us, you know the deal... See ya Jiji!, I'm leaving this matter to you Bansai..." He glanced at Kawakami then proceeds on leaving the area together with Kamuj and his other subordinates,

Bansai sat on the corner and eyed Professor Gengai sighing heavily at the middle of the scattered parts of his inventions,

"Defying Takasugi-sama's order is like pointing a knife to your own throat Jiji..." he said,

"If I were you I'll do what he say..."

"I've betrayed them once, I couldn't stomach seeing them hurt again..." Professor Gengai replied,

"... Listen, what would you want? A suffering of oneself or the annihilation of a hundred?" Bansai intimidated, "... You don't know how selfish and cruel Takasugi-sama could be..." Gengai-san gulped as he heard the samurai's last words...

**_I"m sorry Gintoki..._**

He muttered and proceeded to do his work .

**### **

A week have passed and Takasugi and the others came by again,

"Oi, Jiji, I'm here to claim my deal..." Takasugi called, Gengai-san walked towards him with no joy containing his eyes, it's the first time he felt miserable for his own work,

"Please follow me…" He sighed,

They made their way to a room located from the very south of the building, As Professor Gengai opened the door Takasugi and the others were awed to see his new creation,

"Splendid! Great job!"

Takasugi exclaimed as he observed the "person" lying on a metal bed with a lot of connectors and machines connected on it,

"It looks exactly the same as _her_!"

"…" Gengai- san remained silent,

"Well then…"

Takasugi's smile faded away and was replaced by a sly grin, "The contract's over…"

He walked towards Professor and handed him the robot, Professor Gengai immediately accepted it and was about to say something when he felt his head began to sore,

"You traito- ugh!"

And before he knew it he was laid there unconscious blood oozing out from his head,

"I'm sorry Jiji, but there's no equal trade in this world anymore…" And Takasugi laughed devilishly as he went out of the building carrying his trump card on his shoulder,

"This will be my win… Gintoki…"

[A/N: This part was not on the video Gengai-san was showing but I really have to put this here this was also from 2 years ago.]

*After the Yorozuya split apart to find the shogun*

"Get out of my way!" Kagura screamed "I have to find Gin-chan immediately aru!"

"Stop screaming little girl…" Takechi said,

"*Sigh* You don't have to be soft with her you damn Takechi, you and your loli-complex is disgusting!" Matako sighed,

"It's not loli-complex, it's feminism…" Takechi defend himself,

"Argh! I don't have time to deal with you guys so would you get out of my way!? I have to report to Gin-chan as soon as possible aru!" Kagura's veins began to pop out of her forehead,

"Oh… I'm afraid to say this to you little girl but I'm afraid we cannot do that…" Takechi replied,

"Then I'll just have to force my way out of this crap aru!" She snorted,

"Try it stupid girl…" Matako taunted, but before she could position herself Kagura was already beside her landing a blow on her abdomen, making her flew a mile away from her,

"Impressive!" Bansai thought as he watched them,

Kagura easily knocked the Amantos and the other members of the fraction down,

"You bitch! Take this!" recovering from the pain, Matako shoots bullets to her nemesis, Kagura opens up her parasol and twirled it making it a shield to protect herself from getting hit,

She was about to grin when a sword came flying across her eyes,

"Now, Now… if you would just kindly go with us then we didn't have to settle it all by force…"

Everyone was surprised when they saw Bansai standing before their 'soon-to-be' captive smiling slyly to her,

Takasugi himself, so thus Kamui and the other member of the fraction were surprised to see the silent 'samurai' interrupting to a fight he _wasn't supposed to be at…_

"And who are you supposed to be aru?" Kagura spits out as she asked him,

"Just a samurai passing by…" Bansai answered,

"Bansai-san?" Matako and Takechi stuttered, "What are you doing?"

"Leave this girl to me…"

Matako, Takechi and the rest of the members took a step backward giving Bansai and Kagura enough space just for themselves,

_How unusual…. This might turn to a good and entertaining show… _Takasugi smirked,

_This guy looks dangerous aru! _Kagura frowned

Bansai unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards Kagura, "I wouldn't hold back so do the same to me little girl…" he mocked,

Kagura positioned herself to her fighting stance, "You bet I will!"

_I have to go back to where Gin-chan is, really quick!_

They share some few glares until they've moved to attack each other, using her parasol Kagura was on par with Bansai's sword fighting,

_This girl is something! I can't believe she can match up with Bansai's skills! _Takasugi was shocked,

"You're quite impressive for a girl." Bansai praised,

"I'll take that as a compliment-!"

"But you're still too early to surpass me!" Bansai elbowed Kagura down to the ground,

Because of the impact Kagura took a few second to recover, Bansai took this as an advantage and held Kagura on her hair he placed his sword on her throat,

"Go easy on her Bansai-san! She can grow to a beautiful butterfly 2 years from now!" Takechi shrieked, only to receive a jab from Matako,

"You and your loli-complex again!" she hissed,

"Now, would you come with us peacefully or I'll slice your throat?" Bansai taunted,

"I won't choose anything!" Kagura muttered, and she hit Bansai's chin with her head, tracing a rugged slice on her neck and been able to free herself from Bansai's lock;

_It hurts! _She cried within her thoughts,

"Now you did it!" Bansai sets off and continuously attack her with his sword,

Kagura managed to dodge few of his attacks but mostly of it were perfectly etched to her now exhausted body, pieces of her cheongsam were now drifting with the wind and blood were oozing out her wounds,

_This is bad!_ She thought herself,

She was about to return Kawakami's attack when her vision became hazy,

_What the hell is going on?_ She asked,

Her body became weak and her head began to sore and spin,

And before she could utter a word, everything went black and ended with a loud 'thud'

"Good work Bansai!" Takasugi clapped, "Silently injecting her that tranquilizer was a brilliant idea, I almost didn't see how you do it, impressive as always…" he praised,

"But looks like keeping her from hitting that hard rock while collapsing is a total out of the plan for me…" Bansai confessed as he turned his gaze to Kagura, "…I'm afraid the possible outcome might be amnesia…"

**###**

"TAKASUGI YOU BASTARD!"

Gintoki took his bokuto and was about to go rampage when Otose-san grabbed his shoulder,

"Calm yourself first Gintoki!" she uttered,

"CALM MYSELF!? After learning that Kagura's still alive around this big universe and was captured by those bastards!? How in the world could I possibly calm down!? You stupid old hag!"

And he shoved her hand off of his shoulder,

"…Now's not the right time to act according to your anger Gin-san… We're as frustrated as you, but acting without a plan is like burying one of your legs to your own grave…" Otae stated,

Gin stopped halfway when he heard that,

"…That'll put her in a greater danger…"

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Everyone was startled to hear a laugh from nowhere, not until they've all lifted their heads up, finding a sandy-flaxen haired guy standing to a branch of the big tree on their right, while laughing sarcastically at them,

"Greater danger eh? That was really funny!" He exclaimed,

"Sougo-kun!?" Kondo shouted out of astonishment, "What are you doing up there!?"

"Did you really believe that idea of putting her at greater risk? Man that was really absurd!" He continues laughing as he ignored the question his superior had given him,

"What do you mean?" Otae-san meant to sound irritated but instead her voice sounded a little bit off,

Sougo stopped laughing and jumped off of that tree branch, landing gracefully to the ground, As he obtained their full attention, Sougo's eyes squints as they looked at them one by one,

"…How could you possibly think of something like that when it was pretty obvious that right from the moment she was caught, Kagura's life is not likely at risk anymore… To be blunt with all of you, the very thought of living with a brother of yours who doesn't even care a hell damn about you and with a bunch of psycho Amantos and screwed heartless people surrounding you means "death" already…" He sighed exasperatedly,

"What do you mean Sougo-san?" Shinpachi asked as sweat flowed down from his chin,

"… Don't you guys get it!? Two years of suffering, Two years of emptiness, Two years of frustration and keeping your sanity alive means hell! She's living already in hell for 2 years! And yet here you are saying if we attack abruptly everything will be screwed, **we'll be putting her in a greater danger**..? When in reality this isn't about that anymore but her well being's at stake right now, keeping yourself calm learning one of your friend's at the lair of your enemies doesn't mean 'safety' anymore, it's already the 'danger' you're all confronting about! That place was not safe, her life and well being are at stake, I'll tell it to you if ever you don't get it, 'We're already screwed, leave those dumb doubts, if you want to see her smile again, get on your feet and run towards her, this era, nothing as a settled battlefield could restrain your enemies from attacking you wherever they want… If China's really important to all of you then… save her with an optimistic perception…because I know if it was her right here, she'll do the same, she'll definitely act without hesitations at all…"

That made everyone stood at their places, **_frozen_**… Gintoki smiled and walked towards Okita, he placed his hand on his head and patted it,

"Finally… A guy who understands me…" He muttered,

"How shameful…"

Everyone's eyes were fixated on Katsura,

"Zura!? When did you arrived here?!" Gintoki asked in confusion,

"Zura ja nai! Katsura da! How many times do I have to tell it to you!?" He confronted, "Sheesh, That dam Takasugi really crossed the line…"

Elizabeth on the other hand showed a placard saying: "Damn him!"

"…It's shameful… Having second thoughts for the person who didn't hesitate to come and save me from Takasugi's group back when I was held captive by him… I'm ashamed! Leader forgive me!" He cried Elizabeth pats his back and cried alongside his master pulling out another placard saying: "Forgive us leader!"

"… Sougo-kun's right… Kagura didn't hesitate to save Hinowa-sama from the battle of Yoshiwara before, even going against a Yato clansmen just to let Seita meet his 'mom' I'm very embarrassed of myself!" Tsukuyo clenched her hand,

"Kagura's my best friend… I must do everything just to see her smile again!" Soyo-hime cried,

"Me too!" Catherine demanded so thus Tama and the rest,

After bailing out for a while the group agreed tha they'll hunt down the Harusame pirates and the Kiheitai as soon as possible, tomorrow at dawn,

"Good job… Souichirou-kun…" Gintoki patted Sougo's back,

"They just need a little kick … and Danna… it's **Sougo **not **Souichirou**…" He corrected as he scratched the back of his neck… a simple smile formed from his lips, "_finally…" _he whispered and started to walk away "See you at dawn Danna!"

Unbeknownst to him, Gintoki heard him and saw him smile, _this kid's intentions were vivid… _he thought, "Yeah… see you Souichirou!" he waved back and took the alternate route,

*Meanwhile at the Harusame pirate ship*

*Abuto's P.O.V*

I was walking at the hallway at the middle of the night to go to the bathroom when I saw a faint light coming from Captain Kamui's sister's room,

I peek over her slightly opened door and was surprised to see Kamui-Kaichou sitting at the side of her sister's bed and silently treating her wounds and bruises,

"You've got quite a beating today ain't you…" He muttered, enough for me to hear it,

This may not be the first time for me seeing Captain like this, but everytime I do; it never fails to surprise me, his calm and worried aura were a never to be expected before for me, but seeing him right now, ambiguous feelings filled me,

"Why do you keep on fighting Kagura? You've caught amnesia but your willpower and vision were not different from the last time I saw you..."

"This place is filled with darkness; I'm amazed how you managed to gain a light from here… Was it because you're always optimistic? Or was it because… there are a lot of things you've learned from earth and those things help you to survive this hell? Either way I'm sorry If I made you suffer yesterday… I just… have to… play along…"

"This is so absurd you know? I'm your big brother, Older brothers should be the ones who should protect their younger siblings not to bring pain to them, but here I am doing the opposite… hahaha…"

He chuckled sarcastically,

"…I don't even know if I can call myself you 'brother' anymore…"

He stopped laughing as he saw the chains on her sister's wrists and ankles, pain (surprisingly it was) was hidden from his smile,

"Because of my glutton for power, adventure, fight, brutality and bloody entertainment I was blinded by it and gone as far as leaving you and Mommy behind…"

I may not see it anymore from here as he lowered his head and ripped off his sleeve,

"This may be too late, but please accept it anyway…"

He tied the cloth on his sister's head and gently put her head on her pillow, she removed some of her locks that covered her face, he let out a kiss on her forehead and smiled, this time it was warm…

**_"…_****_I'm sorry…"_**

And with that he carried the basin with lukewarm water in it and a towel and paid his sister a quick glance,

I immediately stood up and hide on a pillar when he was about to close the door I was surprised when he called out,

"Abuto I know you're there…You don't have to play dumb with me…"

I made my way towards him and sighed,

"How did you know I was watching you?" I asked,

"Your shadow." He replied,

"My shadow?"

"It was illuminated by the light…." He answered,

"Ah, I-Is that s-!"

"Forget about it, I have an important announcement for you."

"What is it?"

"We'll take advance tomorrow…"

"You mean..?"

"It's time to pay those samurai and officers some visit…"

And there it was again… his usual goofy undefined smile…

"Sometimes I don't really understand you Captain…"

**_"_****_Is that so..? don't worry… I do too…"_**

To be continued…


	4. Voices

**A/N: Neh, everyone, THANK YOU! I can't contain my happiness since the last update, I've been smiling like an idiot as I read all your reviews (everytime); Thank you once again :) to be honest I don't even know what's going on here since I just jolt down whatever comes into my mind and gather it altogether then *zap* there it was hahaha so forgive me if sometimes it's kind of messy and crappy, but either way, please enjoy the 4****th**** Chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama, All rights reserved for the amazing Sorachi Hideaki- sensei! **

-#-

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***Voices ***

*Normal P.O.V*

{7:38 PM at Edo}

The sun is at its peak of setting in Kabukicho, the once bright cerulean colored sky turned crimson slash orange-ish remarkably clothing the entire country (okay, enough with the flowery introduction and let's get it straight XD) a figure was sitting on the roof of the shinsengumi headquarters paying an adamant gaze towards the sun drifting apart from those mountains in this town's horizon; Sighing heavily trying not to stress himself and was exhausted of replacing his thoughts about a certain _china girl _he knew to a list of _possible _killing exercises and rituals to be offered for his despised vice commander,

**_I'm seriously being haunted by that girl's annoying face, Damn it!_**

He scuffed his hair as his eyes furrowed for that thought;

He laid his back on the series of ridges on their headquarters' upper covering and tried to redirect his thoughts scrupulously,

…

**"****GAH!" **only to fail at the end,

"Eh? Souichirou-kun?"

His delusions were interrupted when he heard a familiar voice called out, he turned around only to see a silver perm head samurai grunting his way up while holding a glass of parfait on his left hand,

"Fancy meeting you here, Danna…"he stood up and helped his Danna,

"…Well, you see-!"

Gin didn't finished his sentence when a resounding voice made them cover their ears,

"You damn diabetic perm head! Why did you ate all the sweets at the fridge!?" A fuming Hijikata grab a hold of his collar as he jumped out of nowhere, luckily the roof was strong enough to handle the force,

"Ouch! That damn hurts you mayonnaise-sucking monster! Hanase! Is that how you, tax robbers, treat your guests?!" Gintoki shouted as he wriggled his body out of Hijikata's grip,

"A **guest **must behave accordingly courteous and subtle, and you're far from that, you're more like a nuisance here!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!? Asdfghjkl…." And the argument goes on and on and on,

Sougo's eyes twitched as he watched them throw insults to each other back and forth, he lazily grabs his bazooka out of nowhere and aimed it towards those two immature fools. After yawning for a second, he nonchalantly blast them away,

"strike~!" he sang as he showed them that sadistic grin,

_Damn sadist! _Hijikata and Gin thought as they coughed out black smoke out of their mouths,

"GAH! MY PARFAIT!" Gintoki cried when he saw the splattered remaining of his "almost" perfect chocolate parfait around the roof, "NOOOoooo!"

"Teme! That hurt!" Hijikata chased after Sougo while Gin continues to mourn at the corner,

While they're at it, let me explain to all of you why Gintoki was there at the headquarters of the Shinsengumi; The truth is, before they went on their separate ways and prepare for tomorrow, Professor Gengai received an information from the microchip he planted on Kagura a week before she was captured, (He managed to put it on her when he saw her on the streets when he bought some materials for the "cloning" project he was forced to do so, because of Bansai's observant guarding it was the only plan he have thought of how to _atleast _backfire their initial plan.) The information pointed out that the faction was slowly reaching the Earth initializing that anytime by tomorrow they'll make their move to destroy Edo and Gin and it is the job of Professor Gengai to warn his friends for the possible outbreak that may happen, giving them thru-analyzed plans to prepare themselves for the possible outcomes for the outcomes that may happen tomorrow, Since the very target was Gin, all of them agreed that it is more applicable to have him at Shinsengumi's care for the meantime, making a higher chance of turning the tables around and decrease the possibility of genocide that may happen to the country and to save their friend, well, that is the original plan, but to put the country at stake can be the greatest ordeal to deal with, that's why they've come up with the plan that they must attack the faction _before _they could enter the Earth's atmosphere, 1:30 is the official time given to them to give their enemies a surprise attack, since their foes' ships were still a hundred of miles away, the percentage of having this plan successfully held would at least be 45%-55%, but it could alter anytime because the speed of their enemies' ship could change the interval of their trip thus they have to be at the terminal at exactly 10:30 of midnight which is about 2 hours and 52 minutes from now, to avoid mishaps; They're all aware that this is obviously a big gamble to take but setting those negativities aside, they're all ready to conquer all possible outcomes and go against all odds just to bring their dearest friend back and see her smile again.

"By the way… Why are you here Sougo?" Hijikata asked as he find this idea of having Okita at the roof quite strange,

"…To simply avoid seeing your dumb face Hijibaka." He emotionlessly replied,

Hijikata's veins popped out of his forehead as he heard that,

"I'm asking you properly you bastard! That's why you should give me an upright answer!" Hijikata shouted,

"…" Sougo looked straight to his superior the sighed, "…To calm my mind…I guess..?" he answered,

"Eh?"

Hijikata was dumb-founded when he saw seriousness from his comrade's eyes; Gin was also feeling the slight tension building up that's why he cut his way in their conversation,

"Are you worried for tomorrow Souichirou-kun?" he slips out a chocolate bar from his yukata ashe sat at Sougo's side,

"…For a reason I do, but that's not what I'm really concerned about." Okita confessed,

While still at frustration, Hijikata lit another cigarette and sat besides Sougo too, making the flaxen haired guy placed at the middle,

_These bastards sure are annoying! Like hell would I tell them that I've been sick of seeing that China's face on my head whether I'm awake or at sleep!_

He thought as he showed them a straight face,

"Come on spill it out Souichirou!" Gin continues to chew on his chocolate bar, silently looking at the horizon.

"…. It will never make sense anyway…" he shrugged, Gin and Hijikata looked at each other, remembering the conversation (argument rather) they've had a while ago at the park;

"Okay… Let me rephrase it, *ahem* _who _in the world obtained your concern Souichirou-kun?" Gintoki secretly grinned to his own question,

"…."

Only to receive a resounding silence from the guy, Sougo didn't dare to answer his Danna, instead he pulled out his red eye mask out of his jacket and was about to lie down when Gin and Hijikata pulled his arms and gave him a blow on the head, making him groan in pain,

"Answer us you bum!" Gintoki exclaimed,

_Damn you! _Sougo's straight face was crumpled for a second as he rubbed his two little bumps on his head,

"Spill it out or we'll make a living corpse out of you!" Hijikata taunted,

Sougo glared at them staying still at his deadpanned self, He sighed exasperatedly and clasped his hands under his head and laid down,

"Oi! No sleepi-!"

"What's the use of telling you what I feel anyway when it was clearly written on your damn faces that you know about it already? Instead of wasting this precious time to this bull crap, why don't you sleep and regain your energy for tomorrow?! In that way you two will be more of a use!"

Then again he stared at the sky, despite the annoyance displayed on their faces, Hijikata and Gin clenched their hands and calm themselves,

"You're always at the defensive Souichirou-kun, You're trying to force your way out of something you're fully aware that you've been caught up to, being stubborn would just pin you from where you are right now you know?" Gin finished his bar of chocolate, crampled the wrapper then throws it somewhere,

"Teme! That's littering you bastard!" Hijikata grabbed his yukata and pointed out the rubbish Gin had just thrown, "Pick it up!"

"Make me Mayora!" Gin returned his glare, they were about to exchange fists when Sougo finally talks,

"Here I thought I'm being perfectly static, only to learned that I'm still not… Hahaha, for the rest of my life I don't want to be like an open-book that anyone could ever read, that's not my nature, I deal with my problems just by myself, that's why I'm prone to be insecure about myself leaving me as sadistic as possible just to regain my self-confidence, seeing people suffer from me gives me chills, but to see those people important for me suffer by the hands of others is just too… irritating… and it made me really worried sick just thinking about their current condition…"

Hijikata and Gintoki remained silent as Sougo continues,

"…trying to act unshaken is frustrating sometimes, but if that could make others do what is right I can do that, trying to be tough when I'm at my weakest for the sake of strengthening the willpower of others could be annoying sometimes, but I'm ready to do it… just not to put them at risk, but the most irritating above all is that, _trying to conceal certain feelings for her just to gain her attention and be with her_ is frustrating enough to ring me up in the neck and choke me…"

"_Choke me until I've finally got that damn pride out of my mouth and confess._"

(A/N: This part really tears me up I don't know why hahaha)

Gin stopped eating something sweet and Hijikata stopped sucking mayonnaise just to make their eyes bewildered from the thing they've just heard,

"So-Soug-!"

Before Hijikata and Gintoki could finish their sentence after finally regaining their consciousness, Okita was already at the ground and headed to where the front gate is,

"Hey! Where are you going!?" They shouted,

"It doesn't really concern you!" Sougo replied and vanished from their sight,

The silver head and black haired guys stare at the gate then look at each other,

"See I've told you…" Gintoki reprimanded

"… Didn't really see that coming…" Hijikata shrugged,

**###**

*At the cemetery*

After a couple of minutes of walking, Okita found himself at front of Kagura's gravestone once again,

"Neh, I've forgot to do something here that's why I've come back…"

He thought it was stupid to talk to a stone yet he continues,

"I forgot doing this…"

He unsheathed his sword and sliced the stone on Kagura's grave,

"I'll definitely save you China, so you better wait for me!"

-#-

[Meanwhile at the Harusame pirate ship]

***Kagura's P.O.V***

_Neh Kagura! Hand me some parfait!_

_Ohayou Kagura-chan!_

_China! You're under arrest for disturbing the peace of this country and for hurting this officer's feelings!_

_Zura ja nai! Katsura da! Leader!_

I gasped when I got up, my face was all pale and cold sweat dropped like a grain of rice from my forehead, those voices… ugh! My head hurts!

_Kagura-chan!_

I nearly scream when my head began to throb, again, I held it and shut my eyes; it suddenly became hard for me to breathe,

_Leader!_

Ugh, tears were about to fall from my eyes, who owns those voices? Why do they calling me? Those voices, they nearly sounded kind of warm… and caring..?

_China…_

"GAAAAHHHHH!"

I shouted, couldn't contain the pain I'm feeling anymore, oww! My head hurts! It stings!

"Ouch!" I cried,

Flashbacks began to fill my mind, figures of about 20 people with blurred faces appeared all of them were calling my name, The tears I was holding back flows like a river from my eyes, I clench my hand and bit my thumb, making blood ooze from it as I continued to scream until someone slammed opened my door, showing a familiar figure ran towards me, shouting my name,

"Kagura! Are you alright!?"

It was Lin, one of the member of the Harusame pirates came to my aid, She's an amanto with a slightly tan skin complexion, Blue hair with bangs covering her big rounded purple eyes, she almost looks like a human, but unlike normal ones, she has a hole at her stomach and from each side of her shoulders, and ears just like of an elf, she's the one who is tasked to look after me, but atleast for the 2 years of my stay here, I can say, we've become friends, she tried to kill me once though, but she didn't continue, saying that it's hard to do something against her will.

"L-Lin! I-It's them again…" I confessed,

"Them?"

"Those voices…" I answered,

She supported me and helped me sit down on my bed,

"Are you okay?" She asked once again as she arranged my pillows on my side,

"Somehow…" I replied, fixating my eyes on the ceiling, I was stiffened when my head began to throb again, I touched my forehead and was startled when I felt the cloth wrapped around it,

"Lin, when did you have this kind of cloth?" I asked, the piece of fabric was kind of different, instead of the usual bandage, this one feels like it was made from silk,

Lin, checked my forehead and looked at me, she shrugged and scratch her head,

"I don't remember wrapping that to you, Kagura." She said, "And look…" she showed me the end of the garment, "It was torn… looks like he/she tore this up from his/her clothes for you…" she deducted,

_For me? Aside from Lin there's no one around here that I know who cares for me…_

I sighed in defeat and leaved that matter alone, when I stare at the ceiling once again a face of a guy with sandy brown hair and crimson eyes appeared before me, a nerve in my head throbs making me scream in pain, Lin immediately grab my shoulders as I cry,

**###**

***Normal P.O.V***

Kamui and Taksugi were walking on the hallway when they've heard Kagura's scream, they turn their heads on where it was coming from, Kamui felt his heart skipped a beat for a second there and a sweat dropped from his chin, A amanto came running towards them.

"Kaichou!" he called out,

"What was it? What's going on?" Takasugi asked,

"K-Kamui Kaichou's sist-, I mean the prisoner number 1618 was shouting and crying, she's stating something about flashbacks..? uhmm faces..? voices? I-!"

"Sh*t!" Kamui cursed as he race to where his sister was, Takasugi stared at his back, a smirk was form from his lips when a conclusion crossed his mind,

_Interesting… _he chuckled and walked the path Kamui just took,

**###**

"What's happening here!?" Kamui huffed, his eyes got wide when he saw his sister biting herself, blood was dripping from her hand, tears were running down her eyes, he have seen her cry before, but right now it's just too different, pain, frustration and distress were written on her flushed face, he averted his eyes, can't stomacher suffering anymore, he heaved a heavy sigh and tried to regain his confidence to wear his _mask _again,

"Ka-Kaichou, S-She's-!"

Kagura and Kamui's eyes were widened when they saw Lin's body fell to the ground, blood was smeared everywhere, some even got on Kagura's cheeks, she stopped screaming and her body trembled when she touched the blood from her face,

"Ooops, my hand slipped…" Taksugi smirked as he traced the tip of his sword removing some blood out of it,

Kamui clenched his fist, he really wants to slaughter Takasugi right now, but there is that _something _that was holding him back from doing it so,

_Calm down Kamui, Calm down…._

He repeatedly thought, He saw Takasugi walked towards his sister and gritted his teeth when he held Kagura's chin and look at her eyes,

"Aww… looks like this kitten was so surprise, she doesn't seem to be breathing anymore…" Kamui's eyes twitched when he saw his sister's face, it was pale, her eyes were wide opened, tears were still falling from it, her long vermillion hair was in mess and she's trembling nonstop, he bit his lower lip and shuts his eyes,

Seeing Kamui's reaction, Takasugi grinned and whispered, "Let me make that beast inside of you come out of its cell…" at Kagura's ear,

Kagura remained there in shock as her gaze was still on Lin's dead body, Takasugi walked towards the corpse and lifted his sword once again,

Kamui was startled as he concluded what Takasugi was planning to do, his feet started to run towards his sister trying to save her before she could finally gave in into the darkness, but before he could cover his sister's eyes, Takasugi already buried the sword on Lin's chest, splattering an amount of blood to Kagura's knees,

"Takasugi!" Kamui can't control his rages anymore and glared at him,

"Heh! What a reaction you have there… **_nii-chan_**.." he taunted,

Kamui pointed his parasol on Taksugi's head, "Mock me more and I'll make sure you'll die.…" eyes as cold as ice were fixated on Takasugi's,

Their argument was cut off when they've heard a sudden chuckle behind them, They've set their eyes to the vermillion headed gal and was startled to see a completely different pesona on her, she was grinning slickly, no more like a sly one, her eyes were not as big and bright as it was before, her usual cerulean eyes became dark like a night filled with misery, she stood there with menace written all over her, she licked the blood on her hand and continues to show that creepy smile on her lips, the chains binding her for 2 long years were being shattered as she walk towards them, Kamui gulped as he saw the exact same grimace he had in his face when he tried to kill his father, Yes, he always wanted to see how far his sister could go, but seeing her right now at her state made him shiver, not in because of fear but because of shock,

_I'm not the crybaby little sister who've just stared at your back before!_

He recalled her saying, he smiled in between his trembles,

_YATO…_

He muttered, as he positioned himself whenever Kagura starts to attack them,

"Your species sure are terrifying…" Takasugi smirked

"I'll rip that throat of yours when the debt was repaid Bastard!" Kamui grinned, anger and grudge were hidden beneath it,

"Whatever…" Takasugi replied,

-End of Chapter 4

**A/N: I think I've just wrote a horror one o.O**


	5. Light

**A/N: Yush! Greetings from me again lol, well, you guys just don't know how happy I am to be able to bring even just a little bit of happiness to all of you, (I mean, all I thought was I'm giving you tons of headache because of the plot and flow of this story XD) I'm really sorry about that… but, I really want to Thank you all for those who continues to read this! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! Chapter 5's out, hope you enjoy guys!**

**Disclaimer: Gintama is entirely not mine! (Well, sometimes I wish it was lol) All rights reserved for the Tensai, Sir Hideaki Sorachi! *salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***Light***

*Normal P.O.V*

{1:31 am at the terminal}

"Is everyone ready?" Professor Gengai looked back at his comrades, receiving a few thumbs up from them,

"All set!" Shinpachi leads the way,

"All right, butts on the seats, seatbelts ready? If it does, start the countdown-!" Professor Gengai's witty extravaganza was interrupted by Sougo's intervention,

"Geez Old man just start it off already!" he pushed the professor at the side then triggered the lever, He triumphantly grins then sat at his seat,

The others began to count down,

"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…BLAST OFF!"

Then off goes the ship,

-#-

*Harusame pirate ship*

"She's finally asleep Kaichou…" Abuto walked towards Kamui and Takasugi who's panting really hard right now, deep wounds around their body, forming scars through cuts, blood covered their clothes, almost shaky legs that is close to collapsing, that will be the very definition of their state right now,

"That woman is a beast!" Takasugi smirked remembering the ghastly figure he have seen,

"No, she's a Yato…" Kamui countered as he fixated his eyes to his sister in front of them, mercilessly tied by heavy metal rings on her neck, wrists, ankles and abdomen, sealed in a cage with bars as strong as an indestructible iron, hanged unconsciously with blood covering her used to be so white dress, Kamui bit his lower lip can't stomach the scene he was seeing right now,

"…Can't take it aren't you, nii-san-!"

Takasugi's taunt was stopped when Kamui grabbed his face and slammed him on the floor,

"…sometimes silence is the way to concede all things…" He dusted away his shirt then Abuto handed him some bandages, he gladly accepted it and wrapped it around his wounds, he turned back and gave one final glance to Takasugi who's sitting Indian style wiping the blood on his lip,

"…You've started it, I'll gladly finish it when time comes, Takasugi…" and there it was again his usual goofy smile with a grudge behind it,

"Then show me, You're such a fool, honoring those kind of emotions will kill you, those feelings will destroy you, Kamui, " Takasugi chuckled as he looked at Kamui's eyes,

"I don't care… All I know I want to at least do something for her because if I don't… I will never forgive myself… And don't worry Takasugi, **I am already broken…**"

Takasugi stared at him for a while, can't collect all his thoughts when Kamui said those things,

"I'm not afraid to fall, because I know I've already did…" Kamui said as he left with Abuto,

**###**

"Your composure seems a bit off today Kaichou." Abuto broke the freezing silence of the background while walking on the hall with his superior,

"…." Kamui didn't bother to answer as his eyes were covered by his bangs,

Abuto shrugged and just leave that matter alone, agreeing on the fact that it is, indeed hard to convince a person who doesn't even want to say anything…

…

Another silence filled the air, making Abuto uncomfortable,

"Kai-!"

*BANG!*

With that resounding noise came a rattle of the ship, Abuto lost his balance while Kamui luckily grabbed the handle on his right,

"We've got company." He muttered, enough for Abuto to hear him,

Abuto stood up and brushed his pants, Kamui on the other hand was about to take another step when a sword came clashing with his parasol, the impact made Kamui's nose bleed, After the smoke has been cleared Kamui's smirk was formed when he saw his opponent, Abuto ran towards his Captain but was stopped by Hijikata and Kondo,

"tch! Looks like we've got ourselves a beast to deal with Kondo-san" Hijikata commented making Kondo laugh.

"You bet we have!" He replied,

"Heh, Captain looks like we've received a surprise gift from somewhere!" Abuto chuckled as he swiftly shielded himself with his parasol as Hijikata and Kondo continues to throw slashes at him,

"We've met again, Officer-san…" Kamui cheerfully greeted the 1st division captain whom he fought from the previous chapters, ( am I supposed to break the 4th wall now? XD) "Didn't know that you survived that explosion, impressive!"

Sougo smirked with him in unison, "…I'm just glad that you didn't bother to look back then, lucky me…"

He took at least a meter away from Kamui and positioned himself,

"…I don't want to make this long, Where's that damn China?" he asked, without moving an inch, but his eyes looked as deadly as it was when they first meet,

Kamui really wanted to tell where she is, but thinking that a 'guy' would ask about her is just freakin' insane and 'China'? He even nicknamed her! Sometimes that 'brotherly 'love' is just too much to handle and it always gets in his way, example of that is this time…

"You have to pass through me first…" he lifted his parasol and a couple of bullets were aimed at Sougo, the latter dodged some of it, while he continues to maintain the meter distance from the Vermillion-headed lad,

He unsheathed his katana and traced it with his fingers,

"Be it if it is then…"

###

"Takasugi-sama! There seems to have a problem…" Matako, Bansai and Hanpeita rushed towards their captain "Seems like Sakata-san and the others outsmarted us."

"Tsk! Call out all of the soldiers! Let this war happen if that's what they want!" he ordered, Matako and Hanpeita quickly respond to his request and heads to the main control system of the ship,

Takasugi and Bansai were about to see what's going on when a familiar voice called out Takasugi's name,

"TAAAAKKKKAAASSSUUUUGGGGIIII!" Gin shouted as he raised his bokuto and was in position to attack his former nakama, with Katsura and Shinpachi alongside him who've took the chance to separate bansai and leave the two alone to fight.

Takasugi and Bansai managed to block their opponents attack,

"Took you almost 2 years to learn the truth…? Fool!" Takasugi taunted as he continues to block Gin's continuous attack,

"Where's Kagura!?" He desperatlely asked, veins popping on his forehead,

"Heh, you think I've planned all of this just to give away my prisoner to you just because you asked for it? Grow up Gintoki!" he chuckled,

Gintoki's attacks became fast, aiming furiously on Takasugi's wounds,

"I don't care with all of you b*** s**** If I said we're going to save her! We'll definitely make it happen! Mock me more if you want, but that resolve will never change!"

**###**

The battle continues inside the ship of both parties, Yamazaki, the rest of the shinsegumi, Tama, Madao and Elizabeth are keeping the pace of handling the Amantos and the rest of the faction to keep Gintoki, Sougo and the others an opportunity to fight the stronger ones, Along their way Matako and Hanpeita clashed against Otae, Kyubei, Sacchan and Tsukkuyo, while the battle between Hijikata and Kondo vs. Abuto so does Bansai versus Shinpachi and Katsura are paving their own roads for victory, Takasugi and Gintoki was still clashing swords while Sougo and Kamui continues to confront each other.

###

Kamui grabbed Sougo's collar and throw him on the floor, pinning him as he points out his parasol, Sougo grabbed a hold of the parasol and hit him on the head, Kamui cursed himself from getting hurt,

"Not bad!" He grinned slyly towards Okita, he grabbed his foot and pulled it, Sougo managed to support his weight as he used his sword to pull his foot back and used his other leg to kick Kamui on the abdomen only to fail at the end,

_This guy's so strong! _He hissed inside his mind as his eyes squinted when he showed that happy-go-lucky smile of his,

"This is getting interesting, Now… What are you to Kagura?" Kamui asked as he dodged Sougo's attacks,

"Rival." Sougo answered quickly as he kept another distance from his enemy,

"A rival…? Funny." Kamui stepped closer towards him,

"Do I really have to explain myself to you?" Sougo asked as he took a step backward maintaining his posture,

"What would be a 'rival' doing here? Rivals aren't bound to help each other." Kamui reprimanded,

"Say what you wanted, I'm going to save her, nothing as your damn sermon would keep me from doing it…"

Sougo returned Kamui's gaze and sighed,

"I'm blinded for 2 years, now's the time to see my 'light' again."

Kamui stopped midway and smirked,

"Very well."

He aimed his parasol towards Sougo then smiled,

_"Keep those words alive, Do me a favor and save her." _

"Wai- wha!?-!"

Before Sougo could ask, Kamui pointed his parasol on the floor then slammed it, breaking the series of about 4 grounds of surface collapse letting Sougo fell on the basement.

"Ow…" he cried as he rubbed his rear,

_That guy's truly insane! _He thought,

_* Keep those words alive, Do me a favor and save her*_

He stood there quiet for a moment then smiled,

"An officer doesn't go against his words… What an idiot… but to think that he said that was truly surprising!"

He stretched his arms and cracked his bones, he looked at his hand to see a key inside it given to him by Kamui just before he have completely disappeared before him,

"Now let's find that Ch-!"

Sougo was startled to see the figure in front of him,

The peeking light from the moon leads him to see a pitiful figure of a person he always see as strong and cheerful one, he dropped his sword and before he knew it he was running towards _her._

"CHINA! OI! SPEAK TO ME! WAKE UP!"

He exclaimed, his voice was shaky, his eyes was closed to clouding as he muttered out another word,

"CHINA!"

He immediately rushed towards the lock and used the key, the iron made chamber rails opened, he didn't waste any second and tried to shatter the strong, heavy chains tied on her ankles,

"Damn! Why wouldn't it bulg-!"

*Dug!*

He was sent flying on the side when Kagura opened her eyes and banged her forehead unto his, making Sougo groan in pain,

"Ouch! Why did you-!"

Sougo was mortified when he saw Kagura, her eyes were dead, her whole body was covered with an unknown aura, Sougo himself admits that fear is crawling up on him,

"Chi…na?"

Kagura laughed maniacally, the chains were slowly being shattered by pieces as she strive to break free,

Sougo stood up and gulped, Her eyes reflects sorrow, but her grin resembles terror, Sougo's eyes landed on the chains on her wrists, neck, ankles and abdomen, swollen skin meets his gaze, he felt a sudden prick on his heart,

He shuts his eyes and inhaled,

"You know, I'm feeling really guilty right now, wow, that word would be new to me, but China, I swear I really am, 2 years I've been blinded by the truth, 2 years that we thought you're gone, 2 years that you suffered without anyone to lend a hand for you, 2 long years that I've let you shed tears… I'm useless… I can't even protect you…"

He lifted his head and was shocked to see a tear rolled down from her right eye, she was still laughing insanely, and her grin was still in her lips,

Sougo smiled and walked towards her, ignoring the fact that she's still on her yato mode,

"Right now that you're here in front of me…"

He took a step forward,

"Right now that you're within my grasp…"

Another step,

"I swear…"

He took another step, the chain were closed to their limits and was about to be broken within a matter seconds but still Sougo continues,

"I'll never let you cry again…"

Once the chains snapped, Kagura immediately attacked Sougo, taking some damages; Okita didn't bother to pick his sword nor fight,

"Scratch me as long as you want, kill me if that could quench your thirst… but I'm not letting you go anymore…"

As the girl continues to inflict pain on him, Sougo raised both of his arms and hugged her,

"Kagura…"

-To be continued …


	6. Cerulean meets Crimson

**A/N: Yush! Hi again minna! For those who continues to read this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! For those who favorite-d it, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! For those who followed it, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, And especially those who never stopped to comment or review unto this, OH MY GOSH THANK YOU! You don't know how I squeal like a grade schooler meeting his crush whenever I read all your reviews! I'm so sorry if the pace of this story was tooooooo slow, XD but anyway, Chapter 6 is out hope you enjoy it minna! **

**Disclaimer: Gintama is not mine! All rights reserved for Sir Hideaki Sorachi! *salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***Cerulean meets Crimson***

*Kagura's P.O.V*

_Darkness…_

_Faint lights…_

_Silence…_

_I opened my eyes only to see those…_

_I stood up and looked at my hands, _

_**Blood…**_

_That's right, it's a dream, because the current me now is fighting, following my thirst for blood…_

_A bloodlust being who kills anyone who gets in her way; It's really absurd, I, who always curse those people who've hurt me when in reality, it's obvious that I'm the same as them, I'm one of them, I'm one of the 'monsters' I detest…_

"**Kagura…"**

_I felt my heart throbbed upon hearing my name from someone so vague yet so close…_

_I can't even count how much tears have escaped my eyes, numerous liters that reminds me that I'm still a 'human'…_

_Every drop contains so much pain,_

_Every drop contains so much hatred,_

_Contains so much regrets, suffering and loneliness…_

_I feel so light by this guy's embrace…_

_Comfort was a no at first when I saw his crimson eyes; I thought they were deadly… _

_A shade of pure red, blood colored eyes, it looks so ominous…_

_But compared to mine, his eyes were bright, full of hope…_

_He never fought back from my attacks nor even tries to move an inch; he continues to embrace me trying to share the feeling of reassurance which in return my current state, denies…_

"_Let go…"_

_I scream… but inside of me these words keep ringing into my head, contradicting what I just said… "…Don't go."_

"Did we switch positions now China..?"

_He mumbled as he placed his chin on my right shoulder, taking fatal damages as my body reacts on its accord,_

"I'm the one who should inflict pain to you don't you get it? I'm the sadist here…"

_He crack a faint chuckle then hugged me tightly,_

"…So why am I the one taking so much distress?"

_He lifted his head and looked me in the eyes, _

"… Those eyes, don't look at me when you have those ones… boring dull eyes, it doesn't suit you…"

_He showed me that face full of pain,_

"… The China that I know doesn't cry when she's around me, she always have that sly grin on her lips she hates losing by the likes of me… so you better laugh now China, show me that grin again, those eyes filled with compassion and braveness, that face with an unfathomable will of surpassing and beating me…"

_He held both of my wrists and stared at me, the distance between our noses were slowly decreasing,_

"…I hate to see you like this, China… I hate seeing this 'strong' side of yours when you are crying because of it…"

_His brows furrowed as he continue, my body moved on its own and I furiously kicked his stomach, letting him spit some blood,_

_Seeing blood splattered on the floor, my body began to tingle, brute force releasing out before I knew it, But when I was supposed to attack him once more, he swiftly grabbed my wrists again and pinned me down the floor using half of his strength,_

"I said don't look at me with those eyes… Smirk! Grin! Laugh! Do whatever you want from these choices but please…"

_His voice was shaky as he said those words, his deep red eyes slowly swallowing me…_

"Don't cry… Stop it… Don't cry anymore!"

_He shouted and turn away his gaze,_

"Damn it! This is not the settlement I want… It hurts..."

_He pulled my arms and made me sit down, beating him is my priority, but all in a while as I heard him say those words the rages I was dealing with sometime ago starts to leave me…_

"It hurts you know that..?"

_He placed his hands on my cheeks; as his thumbs wiped away my tears from my eyes, _

"For years I've been lost in haze, convincing myself that you're gone… I tried… But my mind always settles at the thought that it is indeed, impossible for you to die just like _that_…. I know myself that, that rude unladylike behavior of yours would make even Satan reject you… I was not as surprised as the others when that old man finally speak out, just like you right now, I was consumed by my rage and confusion, I can't think straight… when Hijibaka and Danna talk to me it eases up a little bit, the frustration I was feeling suddenly settles up straight into something… Right from the thought that I want to save you whatever happens… So you better not cry okay? I hate it… You look pitiful, You're almost _fragile, _like a diamond that when broken into smaller pieces can't be fixed again… Don't cry because you are better than that… You're not a diamond, You're an iron… I know that even if they break you, You'll always stand up once again and fight when forged, you're better than this Kagura… so don't show me this weak side of yours… yes you're strong physically but you know it very much that you're lying within your heart … "

_I tried fighting back but my strength fades away when he rest his forehead unto mine,_

"I know it's uncomfortable China but bear with it, If I will not do this at this time I'll surely regret it afterwards, _having this kind of moment is so rare, I better enjoy it for atleast for the time being…"_

_His husky minty breath tingles my nose; his eyes were closed as he smiles, _

"You seem to calm down now…"

_He sighed, He's right… I was so fixated on his eyes that I didn't even notice that my mental state is at stable again…_

"Good…"

_He was about to sand up when I grabbed his arm and clenches it, I looked at his eyes once again as I speak,_

"D-Don't go…Who are you? Tell me your name…"

I plead; a shocked expression lingered on his face as he blinked thrice then raised an eyebrow,

"You're kidding!"

He exclaimed as he held both of my shoulders,

"What do you mean by that China?" He asked shaking me hard,

I felt my head sore a bit because of the word 'China', I just bit my lower lip and asked him again,

"Who are you? W-Why are you calling me China?"

"No way! Seriously!?"

His eyes were wide as they stared at me, Ugh! The pain…

"What's wrong?" he asked as I placed my right hand on my head,

"J-Just H-Headache… Don't worry I g-get this all the time…"

I tried to smile as I answered him; he looked at me indifferently then came with a conclusion,

"Amnesia?"

I answered him with a nod,

"How cliché!" He said as he scratch his nape,

"What do you mean by that? Ugh!"

I tried to sound sarcastic but dealing with this pain is so exasperating,

"…That's explains why…" he supported me,

"Explains what?" I asked,

"I seriously thought it was rare for you to not even try to escape or even send us an S.O.S letter, an amnesia would be a serious ordeal… *sigh*"

He sighed in defeat, a smirk was suddenly formed on his lips,

"What's with that smirk?!" I beamed,

"Since you still don't know a thing about me this will be great! But wait…"

This guy is insane…

"What?"

"If you don't know me, then why did you attack me when you've first opened your eyes?"

"…"

That made me think,

"My body act according to its own, the first time I saw you my blood rise up all I know then is that I want to beat you…"

"Some things didn't change for two years I guess…" He muttered, "Well, whatever I hate to do this but I've got no other choice…"

He sighed and sat at my front, he offered his back for a piggy-back ride,

"Get on…" he said, more like a command,

I was hesitant but then he pulled my hand and carried me like a sack of rice,

"Let me down! Gahh! The first one is more decent than this one! Let me down! I'll f****** kill you!"

I scream, wriggling my body out of his grip, he lets me go and sat at my front once again,

"Geez you're so despicable! GET ON YOU F****** CHINA!"

I rest my body on his back and he gladly carried me,

"You're so light… have you been eating these past years China?"

"The portions of the food are all distributed equally, no helpings at all…" I rested my head on his back, "They all taste bad…"

"Oh is that so…?"

It was quiet for a while as he continues to walk at the hallway of this basement,

"You've asked for my name right?"

He finally break the awkward absence of sound surrounding us,

"Yes…" I replied,

"…Do me a favor then…" He smiled,

"What?"

"Call me 'Sadist'…"

… A prick was resounded within my head,

"What kind of name was that…?"

"It sounds too weird but if you call me by my name it will be totally awkward… I wouldn't feel comfortable… You used to call me by that name, so do me a favor and call me that…"

He grinned,

"Yeah, whatever- LOOK OUT!"

*BANG!*

-To be continued…


	7. Promise

**A/N: Yush! Hi again minna! Chapter 7's out! Hope you'll enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: Gintama was entirely not mine, all rights reserved for the amazing tensai Sir Hideaki Sorachi *salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***Promise***

*Sougo's P.O.V*

"Watch out!"

When China shouted those words I automatically looked back, There I saw an amanto holding a gun and was ready to shoot us,

As quickly as possible I lifted China from my back using her arms and pushed her a meter away from me,

I even heard her say "Wha-!?" But I just leave it aside and pushed her,

A resounding "BANG!" filled our background, my eyes are shut for a matter of seconds feeling if my back will ache or sore but I didn't feel anything,

When I opened my eyes I was trapped on a net, the amanto that shots this thing is now lying on the floor covered with his own blood, I looked at my front only to find China breathing heavily as she asked me if I'm alright, I chuckled and answered her with a nod,

"Thank goodness…" She sighed,

"Mah, Mah, Do you actually think a single bullet will kill me?" I smirked,

"Normal people does, I guess you're special…" She answered as she walked towards me, "But it was a net that was shot unto you, not a bullet, you're just overreacting…"

My eyebrows furrowed when she said that, "You're more terrified if I could recall…"

"No I'm not…" She sat in front of me and smiled,

"Why are you smiling?" I asked,

"Nothing I just… I feel a little… nostalgic..?" It is mirrored in her eyes that she's really confused about her own thoughts, Nostalgic… yeah, right.

I raised an eyebrow and was about to get myself out of the net when an electricity flowed from it,

*Zap!*

"Ow!"

I quickly removed my hand from the loops and stared at it,

"What's wrong?" China quickly turned her gaze unto me, and was about to touch the net, when a resounding footsteps was heard coming our way,

"We have to go!" She held the net when a "zap!" came out from it again, "Ouch!" she cried,

"Don't touch it!" I shouted, "_S***! This is bad!"_

"There they are!" A group of Kiheitai and amantos found us,

"Geez! We have to go! It's now or never!" Kagura grabbed the net and pulled it dragging me with it,

*ZZZZZAAAAPPPPPP!*

"Stop it! Stupid China!" I exclaimed as a series of electricity flowed down to her body, "Let go! Run!"

She clicked her tongue from the pain and tried to smile,

"N-No! ugh! T-This pain is n-nothing compared to the… Ugh! Suffering I've been through 2 years of being alone in this place…"

I felt a prick on my heart when she smiled at me; I clenched my fist trying to calm myself from my frustrations once again,

"So let go…"

I swallowed all my remaining courage to say these words to her,

"I don't want to be saved by the likes of you… I don't want to be indebted…"

She stopped; I glanced at her back,

"I don't want to be indebted too, so whatever happens I'm not going to let go… You did the same for me right? Even if I don't know or remember anything about you, the way you said 'China' to me feels like you and I have that certain 'connection' that is hard to set aside… You didn't let go of me even if I caused you so much grief and distress, you've got those wounds from me… You've showed me a light to my path then… saying words that brings enlightenment to my dull and seemingly lifeless self a while ago, this time I want to repay you with the same consequence if possible, I feel so pissed about you, which is why I don't want you to die here…"

She gripped harder on the net and took damage; her hands are turning black and red, but still she continues to drag me away from those damn creatures,

"Stop it… Let go…"

It almost sounded like a plead, she didn't pay attention to me and continued,

"…I won't let go… I need to learn things about you, there are so many questions I wanted to ask you…"

"Let go…"

"No!"

"I said let go!"

I glared at her; she gulped but didn't listen,

"Are you deaf? Let go!"

My voice resounded on the hallway as footsteps began tracing us down,

"No…"

I placed my hands on the loops of this net and look at her,

"L-Let go…"

She finally takes her hands off of the loops, My eyes immediately travels through her hands, as I thought, it was burnt, it was swelling and it is quite turning black and purple, some visible red marks are traced on her arms, I sighed in exhaustion,

"…GO."

I said making her raised an eyebrow,

"What the-! No!"

She answered, crossing her arms but when her hands touched her skin she cried with an "OW" and "OUCH!"

"You're as hard-headed as ever! Go! Run before they reach us!"

"No is a no!"

She said sternly as she glared at me,

"Man you're so annoying!"

Irritation was building up on me; we exchanged glares as we prolong our argument, I just shrugged my shoulders and look at her again, seeing those eyes filled with determination I just can't help myself but feel relieved, compared to her dead and dull orbs a while ago, the eagerness she have when I first met her still lingers inside her, and I just can't control my felicity leaving me smile unconsciously…

"Why the hell are you smiling?" Her eyebrows arched as she asked me,

I didn't answer her instead; I pluck out a strand of my hair and tied it on her pinky,

"What are you doing?"

"I know it's too gayish for me to do this but I just have to do something to kick you out of here or else all my efforts taking those fatal damages from you and sacrificing my leisure time just to save you go to waste I just have to give you a hint of reassurance…" I said,

"What with this?" she pointed out her pinky,

"…Do what I did." I ordered.

"…And why should I do that?"

"I don't have enough time to explain just do it!"

She raised another eyebrow again and followed my command, "You're gonna pay for ordering me around…"

"You're the one who gladly accepted it, what an obedient servant…" I mocked,

"Whatever…"

She replied as she tied her hair on my finger, "Now what?"

I reached my finger unto her and hook it up, _Man this is so disgusting!_

"…I promise that I will not die here…"

I initiated only to receive an 'ugh' from her,

"What's wrong?"

"Flashbacks… little old lady… Sakura tree… S-Shogun?" she stuttered as a sweat dropped from her temple,

"Are you alright-?" I said frantically reaching my free hand unto her,

"C-Can I make a promise too?" she asked slowly lifting her head,

"Y-Yeah..?"

The grip from our hooked fingers intensified,

"…Promise me that you'll come back to me, Sadist… whatever happens you'll come back to me! Promise me!"

I was startled for a while as I heard the words "Come back to me…" but I immediately turn away and answered her with a nod,

"…Then, Promise me too that you'll never get yourself get caught again… because if you do… There'll be no China that'll I'll come back to…"

"I promise…" She smiled,

"It's them! Charge!" An amanto shouted as he pointed at us,

"NOW RUN!" I untangled our finger and give her a soft push,

"But you can't fight in a state like that and you don't have your swor-!"

"Didn't we make a vow? Don't worry…"

I turn my back on her and grab my scabbard on my waist,

"…First Division Captain Oki-… no, let's just say… A sadist doesn't go against his words…"

"But-!"

"Trust me... China…"

This time it was a plead, she stood there frozen for a while but after a minute I can hear footsteps fading away, but before it disappeared a voice came calling out my _name _again,

"SADIST! If you didn't keep your promise, I will never ever forgive you! Grant me a favor and stay alive! I'll be waiting!"

I sighed in defeat and looked back,

"…Ah, So you better wait for me…"

She nod and do a little 'fighting!' gesture and finally ran away,

"Don't let her get away, after her-!"

*dug!* *thud!*

"Mah… mah… Who the hell told you to ignore me?"

I smiled sadistically; I can see deep reverence on their eyes, fear… an expression I wanted to see, Damn, I feel so tingly inside…

"No one is allowed to pass, all of you..."

*Dug!* *thud!* *Blag!* *Slash!**Thud!*

"…Will bow down to me."

*End of Sougo's P.O.V*

*Normal P.O.V*

Kagura never dared to look back, the reassurance Sougo had given her had made her stay on her stance and keep running,

_Don't ever let me down Sadist!_

*Bang!*

Bullets came rushing towards her, hitting her on the shoulder and leg, making her lose her balance and stumbled on the floor,

"I've been dying to do that."

A familiar voice caught her attention, it was her,

"_Matako…"_

"Looks like the cat escaped from its cage…" she pointed out her gun at her head again,

"…Why do you hate me that much?" Kagura tried to sit down, but her hands kept her from doing it so,

"No special reason, I just hate kids who defy Takasugi-sama…"

Kagura smirked as she heard her reason,

"That's so shallow…"

Matako, which is now boiling in anger, gritted her teeth,

"Shut up! I should have blown your head then!"

"…Trying to act as of some use to a person who doesn't even notice you…Life can be unfair Matako-san-!"

"SHUT UP!"

And she triggered her gun unleashing a rushing bullet from it,

Kagura, who has trouble getting up, can't help but shut her eyes waiting for the bullet to struck her down,

"…So you are the one who've caused her that cut on her head…"

Kagura immediately opens her eye and found a lad wearing a traditional uniform used in Chinese martial arts, with a black and white top sporting elbow length sleeves, and gray pants that reaches the middle of his lower leg, while his vermillion braided hair sways in the air, with his parasol he managed to cut the bullet in a matter of seconds before it'll reach his sister,

Kagura's eyes were filled with astonishment as she remember all of the beatings she got from this guy in front of him, but within her mind the question of why did he save her still lingers and never leave until Matako tries to speak,

"YOU! YOU TRAITOR! IS THAT HOW YOU PAY YOUR DEBT TO TAKASUGI-SAMA!?"

She positioned herself and fired several bullets only to be ended up flying because of Kamui's parasol, Kamui's laid back personality changes into something terrifying even making Matako step backward because of fear,

"…I've already paid what I owe…"

Kamui sighed, He walked towards her and aim his parasol slashing it as fast as lightning cutting up Matako's gun, he jumped on the midair and landed on Matako's back landing a fatal blow on her nape, Consciousness faded away from the lady and collapsed on the floor,

Kamui turned his gaze to his sister and made his way towards her, Kagura trembled as he approached her, his usual sadistic grin vanished and replaced with a warm soft expression, a feature which he never thought he could _still _do, she sat on her front and reached his hand on her head, patting it caringly,

"Are you alright?"

Kagura remains in fear, she just look straight to his eyes as she shiver, Kamui sighed when he saw her reaction, until his eyes saw her hand,

"What the f*** happen to your hands?" He blurted out as he carefully lifted his sister's palms,

He checked upon it and grab a hold of his uniform, he tore a piece of it and tears it apart making a two vertical pair of fabric, and carefully wrapped it around his sister's hand,

Kagura remained silent as she watched her _brother _doing his thing, she remembered the fabric that was on her head when she woke up from ad dream before, creating a conclusion she spoke,

"So it was you…"

She muttered enough for Kamui to hear,

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one who wrapped that silky clothe on my head before…"

Once Kamui is finished he sighed in defeat and equally returns his sister's stare,

"It doesn't matter anymore right?" He replied,

"I-It does… say… why are you doing this? Aren't I your enemy?" Kagura stuttered completely dazed in confusion,

"Enemy?... Well, let's just say my pride and dignity overwhelmed me that is why I never have the chance to think straight…" Kamui confessed,

Kagura stood in silence as Kamui continued,

"…I never realized that because of my frustrations I can make some things I never thought I will regret at the end, but those intersecting words came in straight line when I've got the chance to spend another moment with you…"

He raffled his sister's hair and helped her stand,

"…Seeing you strived every day, greeting every morning with optimism and enthusiasm, I was in awe…" That made him smile, "I thought then, how is it possible for me to leave myself hate that smile of yours? How did I turn my back to you? How could I belittle the person who shows so much strength and braveness than I am? How could I hurt my _little sister_…?"

That made Kagura stopped, his words are piercing her deep inside, she seriously wanted to punch and kick him right now but on the back of her mind she just couldn't do it… seeing her _brother _who became her nightmare for over a year grieving and apologizing to her like this, she just can't help but shed tears,

"I know it's too late to restart things again Kagura, but please accept this…"

Kagura's head was down; trying to hide her hiccups and sniffles,

"I'm sorry… Forgive me."

He released her hands and was about to walk away when a sword appeared before his eyes,

"After saying those pathetic things to her, you're just going to walk away just like that again?"

"Officer-san, I was just about to search and beat the hell out of you for letting my sister wander alone this ship and for not keeping your promise, I guess you're too nice to show yourself and face your consequence."

Kamui smiled but veins were popping out on his forehead,

"…Walking away from her right now is like you're repeating the mistake you've done before…"

Sougo lifted his sword and buried it on the floor,

"…I'll never let you pass, not until that girl's tears dried up…"

Kamui was stunned when a couple of slim fingers traced his waist and arms wrapped it around,

"Kagura…"

"Don't go…"

Kamui turned around and gave his sister a compassionate hug,

_A hug he always wanted to give her when she's alone on her cell,_

_A hug he always wanted to share to atleast make her feel secured,_

_A hug he always wanted to give as a brother…_

He grabbed his sister's head and buried it into his chest,

"I'll be here… Kagura."

Sougo stood on the side watching them share some moments when Kamui and Kagura noticed him and pulled him into the hug,

"What the-!?"

He protested only to receive a hug from _his China_,

"Thank you very much Sadist, for being there, for keeping your promise… For not leaving my side…"

Kamui grabbed their head and scuffled their hair,

"Now let's get you two home…"

Kamui grabbed his parasol, Sougo grabbed his sword and both of them reached a hand towards Kagura,

"Let's get you home China/ Kagura…"

-To be continued….


	8. Author's note

Author's Note:

This is just a quick (hopefully) message from me XD NyaaRin *waves hand*, You can skip this if you want but I think it's quite important for me to tell you this, see I was going to start college tomorrow and I find it hard to find a proper schedule to write a chapter for this, I'm quite anxious about my schedule on the school that's why the updates may delay and I don't know when I could continue this… *sulks* I hope you guys won't let go :) I'll make sure to come back whenever I can :D Hope to hear more about you guys! Have a blast! :D

Bye Bye :D


	9. For one last time

**A/N: Yush minna konnichiwa! Did ya guys miss me? XD well, I've managed to escape from reality XD and have this chance to bring this new chapter for you guys :D hope you'll enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: Gintama was entirely not mine! All rights reserved for sir Hideaki Sorachi *salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***For one last time***

*Normal P.O.V*

"Can you walk China?"

Okita pointed out Kagura's leg that was shot by Matako's bullet a little earlier that time, Kagura managed to respond by a smile, ignoring the pain for a while and keeping her thoughts straight to avoid bothering her brother and so-called "rival".

Okita being Okita and Kamui being Kamui, they've managed to read her expression and both of them offered their backs for her to ride,

"Get on."

Both of them demanded, looking side by side, Okita sighed in defeat and leave Kamui carry his sister,

He pocketed both of his hands and walk alongside the Harusame Captain, who's smiling like a fool,

"You look creepy…"

He commented as he looked at him,

"What?" Kamui replied not removing his signature smile from his face,

"Why are you smiling? You look like a freakin' siscon!"

Sougo exclaimed pointing out his face, Kamui sighed from his statement,

"Sometimes you'll just feel that unexplainable feeling inside of you and all you can do is to smile unconsciously and you can't stop it…"

He stated,

"…." Sougo remained silent as he remember himself smiling because of his sister too, he fixated his eyes on Kagura whose eyes are closed to shutting,

Kamui took a glance over the officer beside him who is looking affectionately towards his sister a deep sigh escaped from his mouth and spoke,

"Crimson eyes you have there, was it for bloody treatment or just an affectionate shade of red?"

A dash of pinkish blush crossed over Okita's cheeks,

"What are you talking about?" He muttered looking at the other way, Kamui chuckled by his reaction,

"Nah, nothing really deep…"

He reached his sister's head and pat it, "…Don't leave her side okay?"

Okita paused for a while raising an eyebrow to the vermillion headed lad in front of him,

"She may be stupid and annoying sometimes but she's vulnerable… take care of her in my place, may it be she'll remember those times I've been an idiot brother of hers or not, make her feel she's secured, protect her Officer-san."

Okita was taken aback for the truthfulness of Kamui's words he was cut off when a clashing "BANG!" resonated all over the place in front of them now standing a dark-violet headed guy with a bandage around his left eye, a few Kiheitai soldiers were lining up behind him, blood splattered on the ground, slyly smirking seeing the dignified face of both his _former _comrade and soon to be one of his mortal enemy; Kamui, and the officer just beside him,

"Joining up with a Bakufu member ain't you Kamui? That's so not in the plan…" he chuckled.

Kamui didn't respond, instead, he answered him with that goofy grin formed from his lips,

"…Laid back ain't we? Guess debts are meant to be broken too…"

"Debts you say? Don't worry Takasugi Kaichou, I've already paid what I owe…"

"Hm? Really?"

"You've got what you want now right? I've let you do whatever you want to my sister, just to make sure that, that silver head samurai will show up and fight you, I've given you so much than what I owe, this time I'm not indebted to you anymore… This time, I'll make sure that every beating my sister got from all of you will be reciprocated…"

"Very well…"

Taksugi wiped the blood from his lips and return Kamui's glare, when a sudden "Crash!" interrupted their bloody exchange of glances,

"_Gya gya gya, yakamashindayo! Hatsujouki desuka kono yarou?"_

A figure appear in the mist with falling corpses alongside it, revealing an image of a silver headed man looking straight to his former comrade,

"We're not yet finished Takasugi…"

"Tsk!" Takasugi cursed as the pain from his previous wounds starts to sore,

Gintoki focused his vision to the other direction and his orbs popped open as he saw Kagura lying unconsciously on Kamui's back, He left his pose and ran towards her, grabbing Kamui on his collar,

"You bastard! What did you do!?"

He glared, Kamui remained stoic and Sougo took the responsibility to explain,

"Danna, he's on our side…" He reassured,

"What do you mean!?" Gintoki snorted as he didn't took his stare away from the Harusame captain,

"Calm down Danna, he must have hit a wall and suddenly became good or whatsoever but more importantly, he helped us escape…" Okita shrugged,

"But Kagura is-!"

"She's not dead *sigh* she's just sleeping…"

"mmnnn"

Kagura's eyelids slowly rose revealing her cerulean orbs,

"What's with the noise?" she yawned,

"See?" Sougo sighed,

Gintoki's hands trembled as he reached it towards his _"daughter" _and comrade,

"K-Kagura…"

Kamui watched as Gintoki wiped the dirt from Kagura's face, the latter's expression was so confused that she just let him do his thing,

"Y-You're alive…"

Gintoki's smile was so warm that even Kagura could feel his undying hope and unwavering love, even though she could not recall anything about him,

Gintoki on the other hand embraced her and let himself be swayed by his feelings and cry,

"Thank goodness…"

Kagura flinched as he said that, she could feel a series of pricking nerves inside her skull but stay silent as she shuts her eyes and endure the pain, flashbacks began o travel on her brain, can't contain the suffering anymore she purposely pushed Gintoki away from her and scream holding her hurting head,

"No… no… no… ow…" she cried looking so hopeless as she continues to cry,

"K-Kagura?" Gintoki was terrified as he saw her ghastly state, shivering he held both of her shoulders but Sougo stopped him midway,

"Danna, step aside for a while…" he said,

Takasugi stood there just a hundred meter away from them,

"Looks like her suffering doesn't end yet, too bad…" He chuckled

Kamui, Sougo and Gintoki clenched their fists and glared at him,

"Wh-What happened to her?" Gintoki tried to recollect his thoughts and managed to let those words slip from his mouth,

"Amnesia." Kamui replied carrying his sister bridal style,

"WHA-!?" Gintoki's rages were running out of control as he heard that, "TAKASUGI!"

He was about to attack Takasugi with those deadly intentions when Sougo stepped in front of him containing the same dark aura as his,

"…Souichirou-kun…"

"Just say when you're ready Danna, I'm itching to pull that throat out of his smart f*ckin mouth…"

Just when they're about to charge Kamui kicked both of their rears and landed on their backs,

"Officer-san, Samurai-san, I have a request and I want you to ensure that you'll do it…"

His smile never faded from his face,

"Protect my sister at any cost… Time will come I'll surely repay you…"

He reached a hand for both of them and helped them get up,

He handed down his sister and continues to smile to them,

"Show her that she has someone to rely and to lean on, that she's not alone anymore…"

He took one final glance towards his sister who's looking indifferently at him while her tears never stopped from falling; he gave a kiss on her forehead and took a step backward,

"Don't let her cry and suffer like this again…"

His voice was shaky and his eyes began to cloud turning around on the other direction he let his sadness takeover him,

"Give her the love she deserve; don't ever leave her side…and lastly…"

He walked towards a casket on a wall on his right and opened it revealing a red lever inside it,

"Whatever happens bring her home, to the earth… where she belongs to…"

He doesn't look back but his rugged voice shows how faithful he is to his words, Gintoki and Sougo understand what he wanted to reach out and nods as a respond, Kagura on the other hand didn't agree on it and forced her way out of Gin and Sougo's grip, she fell on the ground, Sougo and Gintoki grabbed her hand and prevented her from doing what she likes,

"NO! LET GO! NII-SAN!"

She cried, trying to free herself from their grip,

"DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN! NOT THIS TIME! I NEED YOU!"

Kamui reached out the lever with his shaky hand, Okita and Gin didn't utter a single word holding tightly on Kagura's hand as they looked on the other way and stomach all her mourns,

"NII-SAN! NO! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU! DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN! DON'TPLEASE!"

Kamui's tears flowed down as he heard her say those words, he waved his left hand and bid goodbye,

"NO! PLEASE! NII-SAN! STAY WITH ME!"

He pulled the lever and a square hole appeared below the three leaving them fall, but Kagura managed to grab a hold of the side and strive to get back again, reaching a hand towards her brother,

"GRAB MY HAND! COME WITH ME NII-SAN! PLEASE!"

Kamui lifted the lever slowly closing the hole,

"Goodbye Kagura…"

He yelled as he charged towards the members of Kiheitai faction who's trying to prevent Gintoki and the others flee,

"NII-SAAANNNN!"

Kagura screamed as she fall to the space, luckily Professor Gengai managed to arrived just in time and catched the three of them with his ship,

Inside the ship there stood a wounded group, but all their hazes were cleared up as they saw Kagura tumbled down the ship,

"KAGURA! Thank goodness you're alright!" They all cheered,

But instead of a smile, Kagura looked at them with sadness mirrored on her cerulean orbs,

"What's wrong?" Otae asked,

Gintoki and Sougo remained silent as they sat on the corner,

"My brother…"

Kagura initiated, "Let's save my brother… whoever you all are… please."

She begged, despite the confusion they all looked at Kagura with those faces full of affection, seeing the brave and strong girl begging in front of them was a never to imagine for them at first, seeing how hopeless she is at her state they just can't say anything or even do anything, they wanted to grant what she wished but knowing how strong a yato could be it's almost impossible to imagine that they could be beaten up by just samurais as they took care of some earlier ago,

"Stop acting so pitiful China…" Sougo crawled towards her, "That guy wouldn't die just like that…"

Kagura looked at him vulnerably, making Sougo sigh as he scratched his nape,

"He's no ordinary guy, write that on your head, He's strong, once you have something you want to protect you'll get stronger, in his case he wanted to protect you…" He smiled, "So you mustn't just cry there everytime and show how weak you are, he's fighting for you over there just to see you smile again and here you are wasting his damn sacrifice just because you wanted to be with him…"

Kagura remained silent as Sougo lectured him,

"Carry on China, he gave you this opportunity, don't waste it… instead of bailing, smile, you're not caged anymore Thank him for setting you free…" Sougo wiped her tears away from her cheeks and rest his forehead unto hers, "You know…"

"_**Sometimes goodbye is the painful way to say**_ _**"I love you", China…"**_

-To be continued….


	10. Seek

**A/N: Neh minna we're down now for the third in line before the ending… I want to thank you all for being with me throughout this time, :) I've never imagined that you guys will love this story, at first it was all just for fun but seeing how you guys react each of the chapter… It made me really happy, no words can't contain the happiness I've felt :D so… here's the new chapter hope you guys will enjoy it :D –Nyaarin**

**Disclaimer: Gintama is not mine all rights reserved for Sir Hideaki Sorachi *salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

***Seek***

*Normal P.O.V*

"WHAT? KAGURA GOT AMNESIA?!"

Soyo Hime blurted out suppressing her voice as her hands covered her mouth,

"Hush Hime-sama, Kagura is sleeping right there, keep your voice down…" Shinpachi interrupted, pointing out Kagura who is sleeping soundly just a room beside them,

"Gomenasai~" Soyo Hime replied with her voice as soft as a feather,

"That will be a really big problem…" Otae-san murmured,

The others nodded, agreeing on the fact that Otae-san's statement was true,

"What should we do?" Shinpachi asked as the background became silent,

They all look at each other and think, but ended up shrugging as no answers came into their minds,

"…Why don't we just show her what she used to do back then when she was still at Edo?" Tama suggested,

That made everyone look at her and gave her a thumbs up,

"That's it! We could use that!" Kondo-san approved,

The group looked at Gintoki who's sitting at Kagura's side and looking at her then back at them,

"…What?!" he exclaimed,

"Is that okay to you Gin-san?" Shinpachi asked solemnly looking at his leader,

"Just don't push her too much; headaches are serious ordeal to deal with." He sighed,

"Yush! The next day after we arrived we're going to recollect Kagura's lost memories!" Sacchan cheered,

"YEAH!"

"What a bunch of idiots…" Sougo whispered as he walked away and leave the group cheering for their "brilliant" idea,

Hijikata saw as Sougo left them; his gaze followed him as he disappeared on the hallway,

"What's wrong with that kid?" he murmured and lit another cigarette and lay down the couch beside him,

Evening sky greeted them as they arrived in Edo, following the tracks leading to Kabukicho district, Kagura's "déjà vu's" filled her head, series of blurry, vague flashbacks and past memories traveled her mind, clinging unto Gin's yukata she forcefully shuts her eyes and continue walking,

Gin just sighed at her reaction, letting her pull his yukata whenever she feel a pain prickling on her head, much as giving her enough shoulder and care to carry on, saying: "Everything will be alright" whenever she needs it,

Upon arriving at Yorozuya's residence an uncertain amount of joy and sadness filled Kagura's eyes as she saw the room she used to live in, not minding the pain she's feeling at all, her legs collapsed at the floor with her mouth gaped in undefined excitement, Kagura was lost in words as she kept her body from trembling not because of despair but because of happiness she's feeling right now, for a couple of years she remained in darkness, for two years she barely feel she's still alive, right now she just wants to stay on her position and comfort herself for a while, she hold herself back for shedding another tear as she remember what Sougo has told her, that she must be strong to carry on for there are people who sacrificed themselves just to see her smile again,

"Kagura..?" Gin sat on her back and held her shoulders placing his head on her back he whispered,

"_Let me cry for you…"_

Gintoki, who was already swayed by his feelings and happiness seeing Kagura home again, can't just fight the tears that were falling on his eyes as he embraced Kagura on her back and cried,

"_**Welcome home, Kagura…"**_

Shinpachi, who was standing just an inch away at them turn his back and cried, Otose-san, Catherine and Tama silently wept as they saw the scene from the Yorozuya's front door,

Otae-san and Kyuubei who was sitting at Shimura's dojo's floor, Kondo who was hiding just beneath her, Sacchan who didn't continue her plan on spying Gintoki just for today, Katsura and Elizabeth walking freely on the bridge of Kabukicho, Hijikata who's smoking on their headquarters, Tsukki, Seita and Hinowa that was walking on the streets of Yoshiwara, Soyo-hime who was chewing some sokunbo on their castle's veranda, all look at the same direction, watching the stars shining on the wide dark tainted sky,

Whispering on the silence of the wind they all smiled,

"_Welcome home…"_

"Ohayou Kagura-chan! Gintoki-san!" Shinpachi greeted as he slide the door open leading his gaze towards the living room where a certain silver head was yawning,

"Eh Gintoki-san, Where's Kagura?" he asked eyes rotating around the apartment,

"She was kidnapped by your sister 3 minutes before you got here…*yawn*" Gintoki replied and went straight to the bathroom,

"Eh? Is that so? That explains why I didn't see Aneue a while ago…"

Shinpachi nod at what he just thought,

*Meanwhile…*

"This is kind of embarrassing Onee-san." Kagura fidgeted as she looks at her reflection on a mirror,

"What are you saying Kagura-chan? You look so beautiful!" Otae clasped her hands in delight, looking at the young girl through toes to head, "You've grown so much Kagura-chan…"

Kagura was stopped for a while and stared at Otae, the latter went inside a room and came back with an obi on her hand,

"Your cheongsams were too small for you to wear now, that's why I decided to lend you some of my yukata…" she said while tying the obi on Kagura's waist,

"Thank you Onee-san…" Kagura blushed,

"Just call me Otae, or Anego.." Otae giggled as she remember the name Kagura used to call her "I'll be more comfortable if you use one of those."

Kagura responded with a nod, "O-Okay… Anego…"

"There, done.!" Otae turned Kagura around making her face the full sized mirror on her back, looking at her reflection Otae couldn't help but smile, she pulled out a comb and made a single bun out of Kagura's long vermillion hair,

"Look at how beautiful you have become Kagura-chan, back then you're just an innocent looking mischievous little girl who takes on Gin's bad habits, but right now…" Otae tucked a strand of hair on Kagura's ear; smiling at her she completed her sentence,

"You have blossomed into a beautiful flower that can stand towards any storm you'll take in…"

"Anego…"

"I don't know how to tell you this but please accept it anyway…"

Kagura remained silent as Otae continued,

"I'm so sorry Kagura, for being so blind, for believing in the wrong "truth", for giving up so soon… I'm sorry Kagura…"

Kagura didn't know what to do but Otae embraced her tightly making Kagura stiffened,

"I'm sorry…"

"It's-!"

Before Kagura could say a thing, The sudden opening of the door stopped her, Otae released her from the hug and faced the guest, It was Soyo-hime,

"Pardon my intrusion, Otae-san…"

The princess bowed, Otae did the same,

"No don't mind it princess…" the latter smiled,

"Is Kagura-chan all settled up?" Soyo asked,

Otae stepped aside revealing Kagura from her back, "She is, princess…"

Soyo-hime walked towards her and grab her hand, "You look so beautiful Kagura-chan! Let's go!" and she pulled her away, waving to Otae-san she bid goodbye,

"Later, Otae-san! Arigatou!" she shouted and raced towards the door,

"Be careful now you two!" Otae shouted as their door closes,

"Where are we going hime-sama?" Kagura asked as she was dragged along by the princess,

"Call me Soyo!" the princess said as she looked back at her,

"but-!"

"Call me Soyo!" she repeated,

Kagura blushed and nods in response, "O-Okay Him- I mean Soyo-chan…"

Soyo-hime smiled and cheerfully said: "That's more like it!" to her friend,

The two stopped on a simple looking store,

"What are we going to do here Soyo-chan?" Kagura asked once again,

The princess didn't bother to reply instead she went inside the store and after a minute she came out of there with two boxes of sokunbo on her hand,

"Here." she handed the other one to Kagura,

"For me?" Kagura pointed at herself,

"Yeah, here take it…" she reached the box on her hand which Kagura accepted,

"So-kun-bo?" she read,

"Yes! You're the one who introduced this food to me; you said before that this was your favorite…"

"…"

Kagura looked at her and back at the box, "I like this..?" she muttered,

The princess opened hers and handed a piece to Kagura,

"Try it and you'll know…" she said,

Kagura took the piece and chew it, a "prick!" resounded on her head as the flavor of the snack was something familiar to her,

Watching her friend's reaction Soyo-hime stood just beside her and smiled,

"T-These are tasty…" she exclaimed,

"That's sokunbo for you Kagura-chan!" Soyo hime said delightfully,

Staring at the princess Kagura remembered something,

"Neh, Soyo-chan… I happened to stumble on a box last night and happened to found this…"

She pulled out a photo form her pocket and showed it to Soyo, which in return made the princess paused for a while as her shaking hand reached towards it,

"Y-You s-still have this?"

Her stuttering voice could tell how much she wanted to cry right now,

"I happen to just see that and I thought it must be yours…"

Soyo-hime reached on her pocket and pulled out a picture out of it and showed it to Kagura,

"No, this photo is yours… see I have one too…"

The princess tried to maintain her composure but her tears wouldn't just do what her mind wants it too, ending up crying in front of Kagura,

"…You said before that while these pictures are still on our hands we'll remain as best friends…" she sniffled, "Kagura-chan…"

She wiped her tears away and grab Kagura's hands,

"We're still best friends right?" she almost sound like she's pleading,

Kagura stood there frozen, seeing a royalty crying in front of her was a definite shock, moreon she's calling her, her bestfriend, she tried to regain her composure and spoke,

"I…I still have that picture… if the past me told you that, then we are still best friends…"

She stared back at her eyes and smiled,

"We'll be best friends forever Soyo-chan…"

"Kagura-chan! Wahhhhhh!" Soyo cried as she buried herself on Kagura's chest, "Thank you! Thank you!" she repeatedly yelled,

Their moment was interrupted when Maizou walks in and cleared his throat,

"Hime sama, Shogun-sama ordered that you should go back home now…" The old man said,

"Eh? Why so soon?!" Soyo exclaimed,

"Let's go young lady!" Maizou pulled Soyo's hand,

"Ehhh!?" The princess cried as she was dragged along, "Later Kagura-chan!"

She waved her hand and disappeared on the horizon,

"Bye..?" Kagura whispered,

"Eh? Leader!"

Katsura called out as he recognized Kagura's vermillion hair, The latter turned around and faced them

"Konnichiwa…uh…"

**[Zura]**

Elizabeth showed a placard, which in return, made Katsura say his infamous line,

"Zura ja nai! Katsura da!"

**[Gomen]**

Elizabeth showed another placard,

"Ohayou mr. duck err pengu-!"

**[Elizabeth]**

The mascot showed another yet again placard,

"Goodmorning Elizabeth-san…"

"Hmm… you seem to be a little out of character leader." Zura pointed out,

"Huh? A-And why do you call me 'leader' Katsura-san?"

"Eh? Uh… the very reason would be you always wear red, red is the color of the leader on super sentai series, that's why-!"

"THERE HE IS! COME BACK HERE KATSURAAAA!"

A fuming voice came running as police cars came rushing, chasing Katsura and Elizabeth in response,

"Crap! The bakufu! Gotta go leader ja ne!"

Katsura immediately get on his feet and ran with Elizabeth,

"Ja ne Zura-saann!"

"ZURA JA NAI! KATSURA DAAA!" He yelled as he disappeared,

"KATSURAAAAA!"

Hijikata ran after him, unsheathing his sword and passed through Kagura whom he gave a 'hello' then runs away,

"uh…" Kagura's eyes were plopped open as she saw the number of shinsegumi guards and cars chasing a single person, she was cut off by her mesmerizing when Kondo-san called her,

"Eh? China-san is that you?" he patted her shoulder,

"Eh, Ohayou Gorilla- I mean Officer-san…" she greeted,

"I almost didn't recognize you! You're not wearing your traditional Chinese clothing so it's kind of somewhat odd… but that yukata suits you so well! _And it has the smell of Otae-san on it!"_

"Oh… Otae-san lend me this…" she smiled,

"KONDO-SAN! HURRY UP HE'S GOING TO ESCAPE!" Hijikata blurted out as he pulled Kondo's arm,

"Later China-san!"

Kagura waved her hand and bid goodbye,

She was walking on the streets, recalling some of the words she heard from the people she have encountered today, there's so much going on her head and she can't barely endure the pain she's feeling anymore, just when she got in the park, she saw a familiar bench sitting alone on a certain corner,

She felt a series of jolts rushing down her veins when she walked towards it,

_This bench gives me the feeling of déjà vu… it feels so familiar…_

"MAN I'M BEAT!"

Sougo sighed exasperatedly as he stretched his arms, triumphantly grinning as he escaped yet another one of his patrols, leaving the poor yamazaki and the rest of the 1st division squad take his assignment,

He was walking on the park making his way towards his favorite spot when he got a glimpse of a person laying on it, his eyes squinted and his brows furrowed as he unsheathed his sword ready to play another s and m game to whomever that person was who stole his spot,

He walked towards it and switched his sword to its dull end he lifted it up but stopped midway as he saw it was a girl,

He can't see her face but her hair reminds him of someone,

"No way! This girl's wearing a yukata…" he thought,

He squatted in front of the _lady _and removed the locks that was covering her face,

_Look who's letting her guard down on this kind of place,_

He sighed as he glared at all the men who throw naughty glances to _his _China… He glances at her and let out another shaky air out of his mouth,

The air suddenly became chilly and he saw her shiver for a moment as she hugged herself, He removed his jacket and put it on her,

He sat in front of her and watch her sleeping form, tracing her nose and tucking some of hair in her ear,

_You mustn't sleep here idiot China! You're far from being a kid anymore, seeing you right now could make any guy fantasize naughty things about you, you don't know how dangerous it was… *sigh* I wish that your mind matured up along with your body! You're so innocent damn it!_

He cursed, He stared on her face, scanning her long eyelashes, somewhat messy locks lost on her pale skin, her cheeks as red as a rose and her pinkish lips, he couldn't help it but bit his lower lip,He bumped his head on the side of the bench and stays in that position as he cleared his mind and recollect his thoughts. He glanced back at her and settled on the position,

_You have grown so much China, _He smiled,

_Who could imagine that, that annoying voracious girl 2 years ago could transform into a beautiful butterfly like you right now? You look so peaceful compared yesterday, you know that… seeing you sleeping so soundly as of now makes me sigh in relief; you're so brave… you're so strong…_

He said those words inside his mind as he ran his fingers on her wrists, tracing the swelling parts,

_I want you to remember each of our time together, those days that you've wasted some of your time just to bicker, fight and insult me, but seeing through it and comparing it right now it makes me think that none of it exactly changed…_

_The way that your body responded when you first saw me (A/N: See chapter 5) will be the same treatment I could get from the past you… Recalling that made me redirect my thoughts…_

He caressed her cheeks and stared at her angelic face smiling warmly as he let these words slip on his mouth,

"_**It doesn't matter anymore if you don't remember who am I, the important thing is you are here by my side, that you're smiling, that you're seeing the bright side of life, living your life the way you wanted it to be…"**_

"_**Be it your past self or your current even the future, Kagura…"**_

He placed her hand on his chest,

"_**This heart will always beat for you…."**_

-To be continued


	11. Underscore

**A/N: Yush! Konnichiwa minna! It's been a while since I last updated, well, last few days were hectic and I can't find a perfect chance to update, but since I've escaped from reality once again, I'll bring you this new chapter, huhuhu we're almost at the end, (well, next chapter will be the last) so I wanted to thank all of you who didn't drop this story till the very end, thank you very much minna!**

**Disclaimer: Gintama was entirely not mine all rights reserved for Sir Hideaki Sorachi! *salute***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

*Underscore*

*Sougo's P.O.V*

Damn this woman, She's such a heavy sleeper, I've been guarding her up for almost 6 hours in the park and she didn't even tried to wake up even for just a blink of an eye, My shoulder and neck began to sore and the sun is closed to setting leaving me no choice but to sit in front of her and carefully pinch her nose, her hands move on its own and quickly delivered a punch luckily my reflexes reacted soon before her fist meets my face.

"Damn you, China."

I whispered, I sighed when she rolled back and face the other way, not breaking her sleep,

"Wake up, China!"

I shouted but she replied with a "mmhhhm"

A straight expression crossed my face; I held both of her hands and pulled her up, I sat at the corner of the bench and carried her in my back,

"You're gonna pay me for this…"

I mumbled, I tilted my head and tried to look at her, she's snoring peacefully mumbling some things I cannot understand…

I don't know what's gotten unto me but my lips formed a little curve when I heard her say "sokunbo."

"Psh, you're so childish…" I chuckled,

I've let out a shaky air escape through my mouth and took the route leading to Danna's house,

While walking I can't help but talk even if the person I'm referring to was just sleeping right on my back,

"Hey China, Tonight's so quiet don't you think?"

I initiated only to receive nothing but a snore from this woman,

"I'll take that as a yes then…" I smiled, "You know, I never thought I could see that moon on a different angle than I used to before, right after I saw you collapsed then and "died" I always see the moon as nothing but a gloomy ball of light surrounded by darkness…"

I kept on walking not minding the people staring at us,

"arghhh, why am I thinking about that if you're clearly here right now!?" I scolded myself, honestly I do look like an idiot here, but I can't find a way to stop,

"You know, you do look good on that kimono, but you look best wearing your standard cheongsam…" I continued, "Nothing beats the original China you know that?" I smiled on my own statement,

"You're voracious, you're so unladylike, you're a childish brat, with a very innocent mind, guess that's what made you a very unique girl for me, seeing you suffering didn't cross my mind even for once, not until I saw you at your captor's lair then, I felt a countless prick on my heart, seeing you cry, seeing you in pain, I just can't stomach it all…" Now I can feel my heart throb remembering her face, "I-I'll do every single thing I need to do for you to smile every day, I'll make you forget all the pain you've gone through even if it'll cost me a fortune or risking this life of mine, China… so please, don't show me that face full of grieve anymore, understand?"

I blushed there for a minute, paused and sighed but still continues,

"I'll be there when you call, (I'll make sure I'll be), I'll be the one picking you up when you fall (with a bit of teasing though) And if you ever, ever get lonely, I'll be there in a heartbeat, these sentences are for you, for everything we've been through, I know it's been so long, but I just want to say, Thank you, Thank you for bringing meaning to my dull life again China…"

"Neh… I know I told you to call me "sadist" but China… could you say my real name even just for once?"

"…." Silence filled off the open air,

"Guess that's impossible…"

I ruffled her hair and was about to kiss her forehead when Danna suddenly pops out of nowhere and covered my mouth,

"Danna!" I said frustratedly,

"Heh." He smirked back at me then chuckled, "Neh, Sofa-kun, Thank you for taking care of Kagura, but I'll be taking her with me now…"

I felt a little disappointment for a while then but my heart raced when I heard her whisper to my ear as I handed her down to Danna,

"Now then we'll be going Souichirou-kun!"

Danna waved his hand then started to walk with China on his back, I felt like all of strength left my body for a while there as my heart beats faster as it was before, recovering from that incident, I unconsciously put my hand on my chest and gazed up on the moon,

"_Thank you, Okita-san…"_

I can feel my face burns up, but ignoring that fact I raised my other hand on the air spreading my fingers trying to reach the white orb on the sky,

"Ah… You don't fail to amaze me everytime China…"

I smiled,

"You just made my night memorable…"

The time was so fast that I didn't even notice that it was morning already, the scene when she whispered those words to my ears keep on replaying on my mind, making it hard for me to sleep last night,

"SOUGO! WHAT HAPPENED!?"

A rushing Kondo-san greeted me when he slammed opened my door and placed his hand on my forehead,

"What's with this crap Kondo-san?" I yawned,

"Are you alright? Do you feel sick?"

He panicked,

"Stop it already Kondo-san, I'm completely fine, alright?"

I reassured, He let out a sigh of relief when he heard me,

"You're late for about an hour now so I thought you were sick, you've never been late before for our morning practice, that's why it got me really worried when you didn't show up…"

"You worry too much Kondo-san…" I sighed,

"Just where did you go last night eh?" Hijibaka suddenly appears out of nowhere like a wild pokemon,

My face automatically burns up,

"M-MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS HIJIBAKA!"

I kicked him and Kondo-san out of my room and closed my door, I've lost my cool there, damn it!

_Thank you __**Okita-san…**_

I rest my back on my door and collapsed on my knees,

"Damn you China… did you poison me or something!?"

I wiped my face with my hands and exhaled,

"I'm so intoxicated…"

I was fixing my coat when Kamiyama opened my door, I immediately unsheathed my sword and pointed it at him,

"Knock, before you enter…"

"G-G-G-G-Gomenasai C-Captain, but K-Kondo-san was calling for you!"

He said stuttering; I got on my feet and reported to Kondo-san as soon as I arrived on his office,

"1st Captain, Okita Sougo, reporting Sir!" I saluted,

Kondo-san stood up and salute back, when he lowered his hand, I did the same,

"I have urgent news from Matsudaira-san, Sougo…" he said, and handed me a paper,

"Yamazaki already spied on that faction too before and it seems that their group was doing more publicity with regards of their crimes right now, a lot of reports was being handed down to us by this day and it seems like they are about to perform another hideous crime to the bank at Kabukicho district, you have to get there before they'll do Sougo, do I make myself clear?" he said, authority was on his tone,

I raised my hand and salute,

"YES SIR!"

He salutes back, "Good. Now, dismiss…"

I stepped back and gave him one final salute then turned my back and exited that area, my division was already set and we took the route leading to kabukicho district once we've got on our cars,

We've arrived on our destination, and it was crowded in there, guess we're late…

I've pulled out my megaphone and starts talking,

"Kay~ criminals, this is the Shinsengumi, if you don't wanna die, come out there and get on your knees, lick my shoe then get jailed."

I'm so sleepy that I just wanted to pull out my bazooka and blast this bank into pieces then go home,

"DAMN YOU SHINSENGUMI! YOU'RE ALL BUNCH OF FAGGOTS!"

A vein popped out of my temple and pulled out my bazooka and kicked the door of the bank open, finding a bunch of characters being held as a captive of these fugitives,

"Hooo, look at what we have here, a bunch of LAME FAGGOTS who hostages people just to gain attention, tsk!" I smirked,

"SHUT THE f*** UP!"

Their leader pulled out a sword and pointed it at me,

"Another word and I'll slice your to-GAH!"

I didn't let him finish his sentence and fired my bazooka making him run outside with few of his subordinates, I look at Kamiyama and Seizuo, and pointed at the hostages, they saluted and immediately follow my command, I follow their leader outside and was taken aback to see China taken as a hostage by this f*ckin bastard,

"One more step and I'll make sure that this beautiful girl will be bathing in her own blood."

I glared at him,

"GET. YOUR. FILTHY. HANDS. OFF. OF. HER. YOU. BASTARD!"

I tried to act calm but my mind can't seem to settle to it, it's China we're talking about here, it'll be a whole lot of different story if something will happen to her again,

I glanced at her she looks so confused; she was holding a paper bag with a bunch of sokunbo on it,

"Eh? The calm first division captain is losing his cool for a woman? Huh, what a surprise…" That bastard chuckled, making me clenched my fist,

"Well… I can't really blame you, this woman is something… given her beauty and that body…"

He examined China from toe to head,

"Was really something to be fantasized about…" he naughtily grinned, I unsheathed my sword and pointed it at him, I tried to control my rages, but my body can't do what my mind says,

" . .NOW!"

I shouted out of rage, he chuckled and his men lined up in front of him and attacked me, While these bastards off, I saw China bit her captor's arm and managed to break free, but before she could run, that bastard pulled her hair and slapped her so hard and draw a gun and shoot it to China's knee, making China sit down the ground holding her cheeks, my vision became dark and all I know Is that I'm cutting all the fugitives who go against my way towards Kagura,

"YOU F***ING A**HOLE!" I glared,

And before my sword could reach his throat a sudden bang resounded on the area and before I knew it, A debris came falling towards him and China, I looked at the faction's leader, he was smirking in his hand is a button, Damn it! Did he set a bomb on that building!?

Hhe quickly got on his feet and ran,

"AFTER HIM!" I shouted to my subordinates, while I ran towards China who's trying her best to get up, but because of her wound she just couldn't,

I reached my hand towards her,

*CRASH!*

*BLAG!*

"KAICHOU!"

"KAGURA-SANN!"

-To be continued…

A/N: Okay~ and I'll leave it in that way for now, :) Neh I have a question for all of you and I wanted you all to answer it, neh, do you want to Kagura's memories to come back or not? I can't get a nice ending here and I want to hear your shout outs guys :) please, PM your answers, don't comment it in here :D so that the answer who got the more request would be a surprise :D


	12. Iris (Final Chapter)

**A/N: Yush! Well, I don't really know what to say…But it seems that it will be a temporary goodbye for the readers of Tracing Footprints out there :D I'm so thankful for those who followed me through the ups and downs of this story, in behalf of my soul flying out of my body for staying up to 3:28 am, "Thank you very much!"; I have experienced a roller coaster of feelings because of you guys! :) Tracing footprints wouldn't be successful without you all, the adherence you've shared with me was AWESOME! And for that, yet another Thank you again :D Nhe, I'm being really sentimental here right now (lol) but really, THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! The final chapter is out! Enjoy it minna!**

**DISCLAIMER: Guys for the nth time, Gintama was not mine, All rights reserved for the tensai, Sir Hideaki Sorachi! *Salute!***

**Tracing Footprints**

**~Okikagu Fanfiction~**

*Iris*

*Kagura's P.O.V*

"China… W-Wake up…"

A panting voice brought me back to my senses, I slowly opened my eyes, only to see a shinsengumi with a flaxen light brown hair securing me in his right arm,

He heaved a sigh as I stare back at him,

"I-I'm glad yo-you're alright…."

He smiled,

I raised an eyebrow on his reaction, a drop of sweat raced down his forehead to his chin, under his lips there was blood oozing out from his mouth, he tried to sound alright but seeing how his eyes twitch everytime he smiles, I can't help but worry,

I looked down, my strength almost leaves me, a piece of the debris was pierced on his abdomen,

"So-Sougo-san!" I screamed,

He quickly covered my mouth and rests his head on my shoulder,

"Ugh! Would y-you quit squealing for a moment China…?"

I can tell he tried to smirk there for a moment,

"Y-You're bleeding! We must-!"

"Shhh…"

"But-!"

"_Please…_"

That made me froze, tears quickly raced down from my eyes,

"Why..?"

I said between my hiccups,

"You're such a crybaby, stop c-crying…"

"Why did you do that? *hic*"

He didn't move, but he answered,

"_I h-have lost you once, losing you again will make me lose my mind…"_

He held my head using his left hand, gently ruffling my hair he sighed,

"Kagura…"

For a second I could feel my heart throb as I heard him say my name,

"Don't go dying a- ugh! Again, without my… p-permission…"

He smiled, and his head collapsed on my chest, I held his face and look at him, he was panting really hard,

"S-Sadist-san! Oi! I should be the one who's saying those things! Please don't die on me! I'm begging you!"

His face was pale, full of scratches, he coughed blood and his uniform were already soaked in blood,

"Sougo-san!"

I clenched my fist and stood up, I can feel my hand tremble and my heart was thumping really hard but setting that aside I pulled out the debris out of his stomach and carried him on my arms,

My mind was in a fuss, but I got on my feet and raced my way to the nearest hospital I could see,

"Hang in there…"

I whispered,

-#-

"We'll take it from here Ojuo-san, calm down, we'll make the best of what we could, and so please have faith …"

The doctor patted my back and rushed his way on the emergency room,

Buzzing sound filled my ears, and I collapsed on my knees, fixating my eyes on the door of the room where they're treating Sougo-san,

My eyes were already tired of crying, my strength left me as soon as I arrived in here, and my mind was in mess, flashbacks were haunting me again but I didn't pay any attention to the pain, the only person that was on my mind was that Sadist's face,

_I h-have lost you once, losing you again will make me lose my mind…_

Why do you have to get yourself on a greater length just to say those words to me..?

_Don't go dying a- ugh! Again, without my… p-permission…_

How could you throw your own life just for a mere weakling like me?

I clenched my hand and hit the floor,

"WHY!?"

_Then, Promise me too that you'll never get yourself get caught again… because if you do… There'll be no China that'll I'll come back to…_

_(A/N: ^You guys might have forgotten about this statement, guess what chapter it came from *insert wide grin here*)_

… If you're gonna die here, then there'll be no Sadist that will come back to me…

So Please be alright Sadist-san…

I was surprised when a hand suddenly held my shoulder; I looked up and saw Gengai-san,

"Can I have a moment with you Kagura-chan?"

He said, I nodded and get on my feet; we sat on the chairs on the hallway of this hospital,

"Looks like your first day coming home to Edo was rather restless wasn't it?"

He tried to brighten up the mood, and I played along with it,

"Guess so…"

I tried to smile, he looks at me painfully then sighed,

"I'm really sorry, Kagura-chan…" He said out of the blue,

My eyebrows arched up as I heard him say that, "W-What for?" I stuttered,

"If it weren't for my foolishness then none of these had happened… I'm really sorry…" He pleaded, kneeling in front of me,

I was in panic and tried to make him stand up, "Y-You don't have t-to do that! Really!"

"But This-!"

I sat in front of him and smiled,

"May it be the past, the present or the future me… What happened had already happened, whether it's good or bad, the only thing that is important is that I'm living everyday with a smile right? There's a reason with every circumstances that occurred unto my life, yes, I have suffered but there are things that were resolved on that two years, I've reconciled with my brother and… I… I have seen the beauty of the world once again, because of the encouragement my friends had given me, I may not remember a thing or two about them, but I could see how much they appreciated me as who I really am, that even what happen they're always be there to guide me, to show me the path to be happy once again, and be optimistic as times would be tough, and there's a guy… who showed me that I don't need a million of money to see the definition of what treasure really is…"

I can't help but feel happy when I put all my thoughts in words,

"_He _showed me something I never thought I could see…"

Professor Gengai, clasped his hands and stood up,

"Well, about your memories… I have something I wanted to show you…"

He escorted me outside only to find Gintoki-san and the others standing at the backyard of the hospital, standing in a line held horizontally facing my way,

"What is this all about!?"

I freaked out,

"I have experimented something and I wish it could work…" Gengai-san chuckled,

"But Sougo-san-!"

"Don't worry about Sougo, I checked up on him and the debris didn't hit any of his vital organs so he will be okay, Don't worry…"

Gengai-san explained,

I don't know if I should be grateful to his words or what but I didn't dare to talk back anymore,

I looked at my front, and hear Gengai-san's explanation,

He is holding a transparent cube with a small glowing orb inside,

And as I looked at Ginoki-san and the others I saw the same cube being held by each of them,

"As you can see, they have the same cube I have on my hands right now, each of those contains your memories with the certain person who was holding it, example, go in front of Gintoki-san.."

I followed his orders and set foot on Gintoki-san's front,

Gin-san smiled at me and handed me the cube,

"Press the little button on its top, Kagura…"

Gintoki-san whispered, and pointed out the red button on the cube,

I pressed it lightly and the cube grew bigger trapping me inside, the glowing light traveled its way towards my forehead and series of memories ran through the cube I was trapped in, the flashbacks were so brief that before I could feel any pain the series of memories already faded away as I can recall almost all of the forgotten times I've spent with Gintoki-san or should I say…

"Gin-chan!"

He showed me that face filled with joy and affection, as he trapped me within his arms and say: "Welcome back, Kagura!"

The procedure goes on and on until there's only one left…

_My memories for a certain someone named Okita Sougo…_

*Normal P.O.V*

"mhhhmn"

Sougo muttered as he opened his eyes, and yawned,

He felt pain prickled on his stomach and ended up yelping an 'ouch'

He was about to go down his bed when he noticed a person outside his window,

"China..?" he whispered within himself,

Kagura was sleeping soundly on the backyard resting her back on a tree,

Sougo's eye twitched as he saw his 'rival' carelessly sleeping on an open space unaware of the danger she's putting herself into.

He was about to jump down the window when he noticed a cube laying on the side of his pillow,

On top of it was a letter from Gengai-san, saying:

"Give this to Kagura-chan when you're fully recovered okay?"

"What could it be this time?" he muttered, as he carried his dextrose with him, A nurse walk inside his sickroom and prevented him from leaving when he glared at her and said that it will be okay that nothing as a wound could kill him, and that he was just going to take a breath of fresh air on the hospital's backyard, the nurse ended up agreeing on the fact that the backyard was just nearby and that she will just accompany him which made Sougo pissed and ended up knocking that nurse off of her senses,

"Damn these persistent beings…"

He cursed as he made his way out of the hospital,

As he continues to walk he find it hard to carry a dextrose along with him so out of irritation he took off the dextrose on his arm and ran towards Kagura,

He can't help but smile as he marveled his thoughts seeing how innocent _his _China could be when she's asleep,

He kneeled in front of her and pinched her nose, he didn't let go of it until she opened her eyes wide and inhaled some air she needs, she took one final pant and chased Sougo who's making his run for his life,

"COME BACK HERE YOU STUPID SADIST!"

She exclaimed as she raced towards the shadow of her rival,

She was about to get a hold of his clothes when he suddenly fell on his knees and stopped laughing,

Kagura knelt down beside him and was shocked to see blood coming out from his wound,

"What the-!? You're such an idiot! Why did you leave your room!?"

Kagura was in panic now she's pulling Sougo's arm out of frustration dragging the guy who's cursing behind her as he can't get on his feet and the grass tickles him,

"WHAT THE EF CHINA! LET GOO!"

He exclaimed as he catch his breath, Kagura came back to her senses and let go, making Sougo's face land on the ground with a "dug!"

"OWWWW!"

He shouted as he rubbed his face,

Kagura, now frustrated, can't help but kneel down and say 'sorry',

She glanced at his wound and she could tell that the blood was still oozing out from it,

She unconsciously carried Sougo on her back and ran towards his room,

"Hey! Let me down! This is frustrating!" Sougo sounds like he is begging, But Kagura didn't pay attention to his demands and kept on running,

When they've reached his room, Kagura throw Sougo on his bed and was about to call a doctor when Sougo held her arm,

"CALM DOWN!" He shrieked, his form was ghastly,

His breathing was heavy and his eyes complies irritation,

"The bandage just got loosened, so calm down now okay? Hand me some cotton and gauze then just gently wrap it around my abdomen then everything will be fine, God! You're so irritating!"

Kagura exhaled as she followed his orders, she sat silently on a chair and treated his wound,

"I'm sorry… for causing you trouble again…"

Her head was down and she's solemnly pleading for forgiveness, blaming herself for what had happened,

Sougo watch her apply the bandages on his wound,

"You look utterly pitiful right now you know that?" He chuckled,

Making Kagura pissed so she purposely tied the bandages hard making Sougo groan in pain,

"DAMN!" He exclaimed as he held his abdomen,

"Neh, Sadist…"

Kagura initiated, making Sougo face her way,

"How would you know if you like someone?"

The question was too sudden for Okita's mind to completely comply with, leaving him stare at his competitor for a minute,

"W-What?"

His face burns up as Kagura returns his stare,

"How will you know if you're in love?"

She asked again, A series of sweats formed on Okita's forehead as he gulps,

"W-What's w-with the s-sudden question!?" he freaked out,

"It's just that… I feel uneasy…" Kagura confessed,

Okita could feel his heart race as he saw her expression,

"I feel silly, 'twas like I was struck by a lightning, and like there's a couple of butterflies on my tummies everytime I see _him _smile, I feel so weak and secured when I'm around him… and I feel so incomplete without his existence on my life…"

Kagura looked at the other way, Sougo remained stoic, watching his rival's face turning red,

"You look stupidly cute…" he said out of his consciousness,

"What?" Kagura faced him which made Sougo blush and throw a pillow on his rival,

"N-Nothing!" he confronted as he lays his back on his bed and face the wall,

"Hey!" Kagura protested, instead she received nothing but a yawn from the guy,

Kagura stood up and was about to leave the room when Sougo spoke,

"Who's that guy?" his voice was calm but there's a bit of irritation mirrored on it,

Kagura paused for a while and sighed,

"I see, so you can't tell me-!"

Sougo was cut off when Kagura answered him bluntly,

"Unfortunately, it's you…"

Silence filled the background,

"I see so it's danna, I understand-!"

"Are you deaf, I said it's you!"

"So it's Shinpachi, I-I absolutely don't-!"

Kagura made his way towards him and held his collar, with her ears and face all red she corrected him,

"I said it's you-!"

Sougo placed his right arm on her lips and kissed it, landing an indirect kiss towards the lady,

"The first direct kiss I will make for you would be in our wedding Chi-na…"

Kagura's face burns up as she took a step backward, lost her balance and almost fell on the floor, luckily Sougo caught her arm and pulled her, making her sit down on his bed's side, Sougo sat down and hugged her from behind,

"Gengai-san leave this thing to my bed saying I should give this to you…"

He pulled out the cube out from his desk's drawer and handed it down to Kagura,

Kagura gently held his hands and was about to press the button when Sougo asked her a question,

"Before you'll do it, There's something I wanted to say…" he initiated,

"What is it?"

"I promised you that I'll always be your 'S' as long as you'll be a 'M'-!"

"WHAT!? Are you implying that you'll be my sadist and I'll be your Masochist!? What the-!"

Sougo pinched her cheeks as vein pops out of his forehead,

"Why not, that sounds interesting~" He said sarcastically, "Let me finish first!"

Kagura bit his finger and sticks out her tongue,

"And as I was saying before you rudely interrupted me,-!"

"I'm sorry!"

Sougo glared at her, Kagura acted like she's zipping her mouth,

"**I'll always be your SAVIOR as long as you'll be a MOTHER to my children, Kagura…Now that I have traced your footprints, I swear the next time you'll cry will be the time I havr brought you in front of an altar..."**

Kagura stared at him affectionately, Sougo returned her gaze,

"I love you too, you coarse sadist…"

And they both pushed the button of the cube, sealing their love along with the memories of their past.

-The End


End file.
